The shadows

ch19

Naruto felt as if he was underwater. He could feel pressure on his lungs, and it was hard to breathe. He had no idea of the time or where he was. Suddenly he became aware of the pain. His whole body was on fire.

He felt like all the bones in his body were broken at the same time. His tenketsus were burning. He retreated to his mind to see Kurama asleep. He checked his friend, and he had low chakra, probably due to keeping him alive.

He could feel Shisui beside him in the real world, and he didn't want to face him yet. He stayed in his mindscape for a while, going through some memories. The fight didn't go as his plan. He was mad at himself.

When Kuro and other foxes worked on making the containment seal, they sent the translations to Konoha. There was extensive research done on the battle. Some older clans had stories of gods, but no one knew how to defeat one.

Their best bet was for the two dojutsu clans to send one of their top fighters. The cave was small, after all, and they couldn't use large-scale jutsus or numbers to win the fight.

They had no idea how strong the god could be, so Naruto and others were like a test. If they failed, Genma would return to Konoha, where they would send a large battle force that was ready for a signal.

Naruto was glad that they made it out alive. The god, while not too destructive due to the lack of chakra, was really hard to kill. He could see how eagle and crow struggled to even scratch the god.

They wouldn't have succeeded if it wasn't due to weakness in lightning. Naruto could feel the place he took a blow for Shisui burning. He was so glad he could save his comrade, but he wasn't ready for the lecture.

Finally, he felt Tsunade enter the room and kick out Shisui. Tsunade used a general scan over his body. "I know you're awake," Tsunade said.

Naruto sighed and opened his eyes. he blinked a few times to bring his vision to focus. The light was still bothering his eyes, but he kept them open. Naruto wanted to say something, but his throat was so raw.

Tsunade noticed and brought him a cup of water. He couldn't lift his arms, so Tsunade had to help him. "Well, gaki, since I know you are going to ask, I will just tell you. I'm pretty sure you know your tenketsus are shit. You shouldn't use any chakra for at least a month."

"The bite marks on your body are not throbbing anymore, just bruises that will heal with time. You also have chakra burns in your lungs and around your mouth. Those should heal in a few weeks."

"You managed to redirect the attack from hitting your heart, but your left lung was punctured, and two of your ribs were broken. Shizune had to perform surgery on you. Also, you lost so much blood by the time you got here that you were lucky bear was a match, and we could give you a blood transfusion." Tsunade said.

"Thank you so much, Tsunade-sama. I didn't want to ask about my health, but others. Is everyone safe?" Naruto rasped in a small voice.

"When you guys put the barrier in the cave, things here went to shit too. The patients suddenly got out of bed as if under mind control they started attacking others. We managed to subdue them before anything serious happened, but it will take a while longer to get everyone back on track."

"Kuro-san confirmed that no one was affected by the vile chakra anymore, and in the last three days, patients have managed to make little progress. We should be done in a week, and then Shizune and I are off on our way." Tsunade said.

"Tsunade-sama, before you leave, I need to speak to you about some important things," Naruto said.

"Look, brat, you are not going to convince me to come back with some grand speech. Just give it a rest and go home." She said.