Mending The Past To A Better Future

Chp 15.Into the Light{Part-2}

Naruto woke up with her whole body aching, her head pounding, and a groggy sort of feeling her mouth. Her face felt stiff, and what looked like dried blood was flaking off of her skin like snow fall.

Why was there blood on her face? She could hardly remember anything past dropping her signature smoke bombs with Kakashi hot on her heels. Vaguely, the idea that she had been hit hard enough in the head to concuss her came to mind, but she didn't know.

Naruto opened her eyes blearily, and darkness swallowed her view, speckled with white dots. As she focused, she realized she was sleeping under the night sky, the warm crackle of the burning fire keeping her warm. Turning to her left, she saw a tuft of dark hair and besides it, orange tinted goggles and a blue jacket with the Uchiha fan stitched in on the center.

Obito then, Naruto concluded.

Further down, she recognized Minato's shock of swell yellow hair, his pale face illuminated by the light of the fire. He looked tired, like he had been missing out on sleep.

To her right, Kakashi's silver hair that was barely peeking out from how deep he was buried in his sleeping bag shone in a reflective manner. And Naruto noticed with barely veiled astonishment that he was shivering.

Kakashi was cold?

Just as she was about to move closer, faint voices carried to her ears.

"... don't think she would do anything to us... knocked her out pretty hard."

Naruto strained to hear, and let chakra travel to her ears to enhance her senses.

With more clarity, she heard Rin say, "I wonder what Sandaime-sama will say about this. I've never heard of anything like what she turned into."

There was a silence before Shisui said, "I know Naruto better than you'd think." Naruto jolted. They were talking about her? What had she turned into? And if someone had knocked her out... well that explained why her head was hurting. On quivering legs, Naruto rose from her sleeping bag, her shadow casting over Obito's slumbering form. "She'd never do anything to harm any of us. She cares a lot. More than you know."

Quietly creeping over to the tree, she looked up. Shisui was a branch higher up than Rin, but they were chatting back and forth comfortably.

Shisui's quick uptake picked up on her, and his obsidian eyes darted down to see her. "Naruto!" He said. He leapt down from the tree. His arms reached for her, and for a second Naruto thought he was going to push her.

She was pleasantly surprised though, when he pulled her into him, wrapping his warm body around hers in a tight hug. His head rested over her shoulder, and his curls tickled her ear. Naruto sagged against him, unsure of why the bone crushing hug that Shisui was giving her felt like soaking in sunshine. She rubbed her hand over his back, trying to soothe whatever had him so distressed.

"Hey," she muttered. "What's wrong?"

"I was so worried about you," he breathed in her ear, squeezing her a little tighter. "When I saw you... when I heard what that guy said... I wanted to kill him." Naruto had no idea what Shisui was talking about to cause such a strong reaction from him.

"What are you talking about, Shisui?" she murmured, her fingers clenching into his black shirt.

He pulled away from her, eyes searching her face. "You don't remember?" he asked, worried.

She shook her head, and Shisui's head snapped back to Rin who Naruto had all but forgotten was there.

Rin stepped forwards hesitantly, something akin to fear in her eyes. Naruto reached a hand out to her, and Rin recoiled suddenly.