Restoration Book 3/3: Hinata's Fate

Chapter 11

In the afternoon of the same day, not even two days after the battle for humanity ended, Sakura surprised us all by waking up. Ino and Sai were the ones to pass the news along because Sasuke still wouldn't let anyone but them and Tsunade come into their room. The Uchiha man was being incredibly protective of her and I'd usually find that romantic if I wasn't one of the people who desperately wanted to see the young woman.

According to Ino, Sakura didn't even have scars left from the unbelievable amount of injuries she'd gotten in Suna. I hadn't been told about anything except the sword wound, but she'd taken much more damage than just that. She'd been cut from her forehead all the way down to her neck on one side of her face, shot in the shoulder, and even stabbed in the leg with a knife. So when Sasuke said he saw her die, it was easy to believe with injuries like that.

The girl's healing ability must've gotten better, somehow.

Apparently she'd been given some strong medicine to help her manage the pain, so the pink-haired woman was loopy and high, but otherwise seemed normal. The reassurance brought me massive relief and I found myself able to bear not seeing Sakura, at least for a few more days, because Sasuke's undoubtedly going to take great care of her.

Everyone from the haven in Konoha set out to return home except for Shizune, Tsunade, Iruka, Shikaku, Genma, and Kakashi. Obito bid me farewell before they left, thanking me again. It was clear he was eager to return to his family and I couldn't blame him. It's been at least a year since he's seen them, maybe even longer.

I kept telling Neji and Tenten that they should go with them, but they argued they didn't want to leave me behind. I'm not going anywhere until Naruto's awake and able to travel and when I made that abundantly clear, they relented with a promise to take good care of Hanabi, Sinzo, and Konohamaru until we could join them. I wrote a letter for them to give my sister, explaining the situation, reassuring her that I was alright, and apologizing again for putting her through all this.

Once I proved I was able to make it around with the aid of a crutch, Tsunade let me move into Naruto and Matsuri's room. There was a small sofa in there that was going to be my bed for as long as it takes for him to recover.

The doctor healed my leg injury enough that it wasn't bleeding or needing stitches anymore, but couldn't mend my broken arm or rid me of my bruises because it would take too much energy that she needed to reserve for the two who were still unconscious. She could've not healed me at all and I wouldn't have argued, honestly. I couldn't stop her from getting a proper cast on it, though, because she threatened to knock me out if I didn't comply.

Three more days passed before news reached us that most of the humans that'd gone into hiding in each city had reappeared and society was beginning to work together to rebuild, give medical treatment to those in need of it, and organize proper burials for those whose lives were taken amidst the chaos.

The power grid and plumbing was restored to most of the town within those three days, which stunned me completely. I thought it'd take weeks, maybe even months, for it to happen, but it was true that everything else would be easier with those utilities at our disposal. That's likely why they put such a rush on their repair.

Doctors, nurses, and anyone with even a small amount of medical knowledge flocked to the quickly filling hospital to lend a helping hand. Those that were inhabited were lining up at the doors each morning to willingly have themselves removed from the humans' bodies.

I was surprised, but almost no one was against sending the alien-esk creatures back to the sea rather than killing them. There were a few that were, but they simply worked on helping others and distanced themselves from the task of removal, with a hiccup here and there of course.