Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Talking: “…”

Thinking: ‘…’

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Chapter 20: I Won’t Die

“So, the little fox boy is back?” Orochimaru hissed, clearly not happy with what just happened.

Naruto gently pushed Sakura away, but never removed his hands from her waist.

He grinned; “That’s right! And I’ll never, ever let you hurt anyone around here!”

Orochimaru grinned as well; “It was never my intention to hurt anyone, Naruto-kun. I only wanted to destroy them if they stood in my way!” With that, Orochimaru sprinted towards Naruto to attack.

Naruto quickly reacted and pushed Sakura towards Jiraiya and Tsunade, so that they could catch her.

“Naruto! Wait! You can’t-!” Jiraiya yelled, but Naruto didn’t listen. He only grinned.

“Don’t worry, I have new strength, given to me... by my guardian angel.” Naruto said as he grabbed his kunai from his pocket, waiting to clash with Orochimaru.

“Guardian angels won’t save you this time, Naruto-kun!” Orochimaru yelled as he also grabbed his kunai.

Orochimaru’s kunai connected with Naruto’s kunai with great force. Naruto shoved backwards because of the force, but Orochimaru went with him.

Naruto’s arm who held the kunai was shaking; he had a hard time to keep Orochimaru away from him. Orochimaru noticed this and grinned.

“I don’t know how you came back from the death, but I’ll make sure you won’t come back this time!” Orochimaru said as he used more force to bring Naruto down.

Naruto’s eyes gave a red glint for a second, and he smirked. “Oh? Are you coming with me, then?”

As Naruto said that, red chakra started to appear around him, giving him an enormous boost. He started to push back, and with success.

Orochimaru was thrown back. Even he was slightly surprised by the sudden force.

“Interesting...” Orochimaru said as he licked his lips with his large, snake like, tongue. “Kabuto.” Orochimaru said, as he tilted his head slightly towards Kabuto and Sasuke, who were watching silently.

“Yes, Orochimaru-sama?” Kabuto replied.

“How is Sasuke-kun?”

“Ah, well...” Kabuto hesitated, “His injuries are more severe then I thought. I cannot heal him here.”

“So, there is no other choice?”

“It seems so, sir.”

Orochimaru looked at Naruto. Naruto was in his battle stance, but didn’t make a move. Orochimaru also noticed Jiraiya and Tsunade standing there, reading to jump in when necessary.

And there was Sakura.

She wasn’t that much of a threat to Orochimaru, but she could cause serious problem.

“Naruto...” Sakura whispered, looking at him. She couldn’t believe he was back, she couldn’t believe he was alive and breathing. While just seconds ago, he was...

She shook her head, ‘No, I will not think about that, Naruto is here, he’s alive and... he facing Orochimaru!’

Sakura turned her head towards Jiraiya and Tsunade, who were silently watching. “Master, Jiraiya-sama! We have to help Naruto! He will never make it, he’ll die!”

Tsunade looked at her. “Don’t worry Sakura, it looks like Orochimaru won’t fight... Unless he uses the summoning technique.”

“Why won’t he attack?”

Jiraiya answered this time; “Because Orochimaru has to fight us all when he attacks, and he only has Kabuto. Although they are both very strong, they have to fight with all they’ve got. That does not please them.”

Sakura looked towards Orochimaru. But ended looking at Kabuto and Sasuke, who was still sitting on the ground against the wall. His clothes were partly torn, mostly because of Kabuto tore it so that he could heal.

“But what about Sasuke?”

“Apparently he can’t fight anymore. Kabuto must have not enough healing skills to heal him.” Jiraiya explained.

“Sasuke is that badly hurt?” Sakura gasped, still worried about him. She couldn’t help it, she still cared about him whether she liked it or not.

Jiraiya and Tsunade both nodded without saying a word.

“Sasuke...” She whispered. But right as she whispered his name, Sasuke looked up, his dark eyes burying into her own.

He didn’t had a cold look in his eyes anymore. His look was... apologizing?

‘Why?’ She thought to herself, ‘That’s not like him, not at all!’ Sakura was arguing with herself, but found herself nodding towards him.

It looked like he gave a slight sigh of relief, but Sakura could have imagined that, because as soon as it came, his eyes turned cold again and turned towards Orochimaru and Naruto.

“Sir, what about the summoning technique?” Kabuto silently suggested.

“No, that’s too much effort right now. Besides, I want to use Kuchiyose no Jutsu later on, when Sasuke is fully recovered for another battle.”

“You want to wait?” Kabuto asked surprised.

“Yes,” Orochimaru grinned, “I want Naruto-kun to become much stronger as well.”

“Whatever you say, Orochimaru-sama.” Kabuto said as he walked towards Sasuke, helping him to stand up and disappear from the fighting scene.

“Wait,” Sasuke said as he slowly stood up with the help from Kabuto. “what are we doing? Do you want us to look like cowards?”

“It is inevitable, Sasuke-kun. Your wounds have to be healed in a more secure surrounding.” Kabuto answered, catching the glare that Sasuke gave him.

“It’s your fault your not skilled enough with your medical jutsu. You could have made me ready for battle again if you had enough skills and chakra. You are too weak.” Sasuke hissed.

Kabuto did not let go of Sasuke, but only growled.

“Relax, Sasuke-kun,” Orochimaru said, turning towards Sasuke and Kabuto. “We will get back so that you can fight Naruto-kun again.” He smirked.

“That’s right, Orochimaru,” Sasuke hissed again. “this is my fight. You will not interrupt this again. And if you will try to steal the Kyuubi again from Naruto’s body, I will kill you.” Sasuke glared, but Orchimaru didn’t seemed amazed by the threat.

“We’ll see about that, Sasuke-kun.”

“Hey! Orochimaru!” A scream came from he other side of the room. “Are you running away? I thought you wanted to fight!” Naruto yelled as he saw that Orochimaru started moving, but not towards him.

Orochimaru chuckled a dark chuckle; “Do not worry, Naruto-kun, I will be back. I’ll make Sasuke stronger, and I hope you will do the same for yourself.”

“Wait!” Naruto said, as he ran towards them. He didn’t had his eyes on Orochimaru, but on Sasuke, who was glaring back at him.

“Get strong, Naruto-kun, because we will be back to take the price.” Orochimaru said as Kabuto threw a kunai towards him which landed right before him, making Naruto stop.

It had a explosive card attached to it. Before Naruto could do anything, Kabuto made one simple hand sign to let the explosive explode, creating a cloud of dust, which made it harder for Naruto to see.

“No, wait!” But as soon as the dust disappeared, so were Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sasuke.

The only thing that was heard, was Orochimaru’s laughter. It’s sound was echoing through the room.

Naruto looked up at the hole he created with his rasengan. “Just you wait, Orochimaru! I will become strong! I will not die again!”

“I-is it over?” Sakura whispered with hesitation.

“Yes, it is.” Tsunade replied, not surprised with what happened.

“For now...” Jiraiya muttered under his breath, but was not heard by either Sakura or Tsunade.

“Why did they left?” Sakura couldn’t understand it.

“If he would have continued, he would either lose or get kicked in the crotch pretty hard. Now he didn’t win, he didn’t lose. There will be a rematch, and we will be ready for it.” Tsunade grinned towards Sakura.

Sakura couldn’t smile just yet.

Even though she saw that they were gone, even though Tsunade confirmed that it was over, Sakura still had a feeling that something was going to happen. Maybe not now, but it the future. Something horrible, something that would involve them all.

“Sakura-chan.” A soft voice called out to her. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up.

Naruto stood there, with a soft look on his face. “Sakura-chan, I’m so happy to see you again.”

“Naruto...” Sakura whispered, tears of joy and relief building up in her eyes. Suddenly, she lunged herself into his arms, wanting to hold him and never let go.

Naruto wrapped his own arms around her waist, his head burying in her hair, wanting to smell her strawberry scent for so long.

“Y-you big dummy!” Sakura choked, tears running freely over her face now. She buried her head deeper into his chest, making it hard to hear her words. “I-I thought I lost you! I thought you were gone! I thought... I thought...” Sakura didn’t finished her sentence. She couldn’t anymore.

Naruto held her tighter in his arms. “I’m sorry Sakura-chan, for making you worried. I wanted to come back to you, but I couldn’t hear you. You were too far away.”

This made Sakura confused, “What? You couldn’t hear me? What are you talking about?” She asked, her face now removed from his chest, looking up at Naruto.

Naruto laughed softly, apparently finding her being confused funny. “I was in a white room, and there was a beautiful lady with long, red hair in that room. She told me I wasn’t ready to die yet, she told me... I had to go back to you.”

‘A woman with long, red hair? That must be-!’

“I couldn’t hear you, or anyone else in that room. I wanted to hear you, so that I could go back to you. So the lady told me I had to remember all my friends in Konoha. Once I remembered them all, I could go back! That lady helped me. She also said she was my guardian angel. Amazing huh, Sakura-chan?”

“Yeah, really, Naruto. Did you maybe asked for her name?” Sakura asked, just to be sure.

“Oh yeah! Her name was Kushina! I don’t know why, but when she said her name, I felt all warm inside.”

‘So, it really was his mother. She really is his guardian angel.’ Sakura thought, and looked up towards the roof, knowing she was there. ‘I really must thank her once we get back to Konoha. I’ll thank her when I’m at the monument.’

“Sakura-chan?” Naruto said softly, getting Sakura’s attention back to him.

She looked at him, while he softly stroked his hand on her cheek, also pushing some bangs away.

“I really, really missed you...” He slowly came closer to her face, as Sakura closed her eyes, not stopping him.

Naruto also closed her eyes as he could feel her breath on his lips. He reached in for the kiss...

TOINK!

“Ow, ow, owwww!” Naruto said as he jumped away from Sakura, letting her go. Sakura looked at him in surprise, wondering what just happened.

Naruto rubbed the top of his head as a piece of stone fell on the ground. He looked up, seeing that the roof was starting to collapse.

The surroundings began to shake, making it hard to stand up straight.

“The lair is going to collapse! We must get out immediately!” Tsunade screamed as she nodded towards Jiraiya, who looked towards Naruto and Sakura. Naruto understood immediately.

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto said as he reached out his hand. Sakura understood as well, grabbing his hand, letting their fingers get intertwined.

They jumped out of the hole in the roof one for one, probably the same exit that Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sasuke used before they made the lair collapse.

To be Continued