Life of the Savior - A Naruto Prodigy and NaruHina story

Chapter 27

(A/N: Hey guys, I owe you an explanation for why I took so long for this chapter. Long story shortened because I don't want to elaborate, but I got shot. With real bullets.😅I've been steadily recovering and that time has been spent working to finish this chapter as well as for my third year of medical school, so excuse my tardiness and cringiness [oh man I was hella cringy in the other chapters] and enjoy!)

Third POV

Naruto lunged into a sitting position, then regretted it as searing pain exploded on his insides. He gritted his teeth and tried to hold back any noise of pain. Instead, he gasped, "Wha- Gaara... where is he... where?"

Sasuke practically shoved Naruto back onto the floor of the forest. "I'll look for him. You sit and let Sakura heal you or I'll kick your-" Kakashi cut Sasuke off before he could unleash any colourful language.

"Now isn't the time to be bickering, though Sasuke is right." Kakashi scolded Naruto when Naruto made a face. "Report back to me as soon as you find him." Kakashi turned to Sasuke who nodded and jumped into the forest, scanning for Gaara.

Naruto closed his eyes and let Sakura heal him. Everything in his body hurt, and Naruto was sure that he'd have aches all over even after Sakura healed him.

Sakura was clenching her teeth together as she healed Naruto, determined not to scream at him for getting himself hurt. "I swear, Naruto. I'll kick you where the sun don't shine if you do this one more time. Try me." Sakura growled threateningly when Naruto opened his mouth to speak, effectively shutting him up.

"Sakura-chan... we're shinobi. And I'm on the bounty book, how can I stay out of danger- OOMPH!" Naruto puffed his cheeks and tried to hold back any sound of pain when Sakura jabbed at a nasty wound on his side.

"Talk back to me right now, I dare you," Sakura mumbled.

Kakashi could testify in a hearing (A/N: pun very much intended [I'm reading this after a while and I have no freakin' clue where or what the pun is]) that Naruto didn't so much as breathe a word for a while.

Sasuke returned to where the rest of Team 7 was, but he appeared morose as he showed his face.

Naruto lifted his head slightly to look at Sasuke, but his heart stopped when he saw the cloth in Sasuke's arm.

"I brought some sand shinobi to the location. He's there, but..." Sasuke turned his head away, knowing Naruto didn't want to hear the rest.

Naruto shot up, ignoring Sakura's scolding and his own body's screams of pain as he jumped into the forest. Trees and twigs scratched his barely healed arms, and the bandages around his torso turned red as his wounds reopened. Naruto took no notice, not of his wounds, not of the three shinobi frantically running after him, not of the change in environment.

The sandy terrain enveloped them all as they finally entered the outskirts of the land of Wind. In a small clearing between the dunes, several sand shinobi gathered around a body, cold as ice. Gaara's eyes were closed, the red symbol on his forehead smudged but present. His chest didn't rise and fall rapidly like Naruto's, and his lips were pale and lifeless.

Naruto barged through the crowd and stared at Gaara's lifeless form. His breathing became erratic, and he fell to his knees into the sand next to the redhead. Naruto couldn't bring himself to speak or hear any of the words thrown at him, some out of concern for him, some out of contempt for coming close to the kazekage rudely.

A gnarly hand slapped Naruto's cheek lightly, bringing him out of his stupor. The elder of the sand village, Lady Chiyo, had kneeled on Gaara's other side, facing Naruto. "Don't lose yourself in delusions, you've seen worse."