Something Precious

Chapter Fifty Nine

Naruto felt a strong sense déjà vu when the blood started spilling. It brought him painfully back to the dozens of battles had had fought in his short life. He had fought so many you would think he wouldn't be able to call every little one, but he does. They follow him where ever he goes and race across his mind, their reality overlapping with one he was experiencing, in the worst of times.

A shinobi charged at him from the left another from the right and from above as well. Naruto grabbed the ankle of the one above him and threw him to at the shinobi to his right before ducking low to the ground to avoid attacks from the one on the left. He unsheathed his blade and drove it through the man's skull.

With his blade in hand, it was almost as effortless as breathing to take down the Mist shinobi. He didn't kill all of them, he didn't want to kill any of them; and as he fought he continuously wrestled with himself over what he needed to do and what he believed was right. He would talk to them, try to persuade them to stop this silly fighting, but as a burly, tough man charged at him even after being knocked down five times, Naruto knew it was only a sad waste of breath. These shinobi weren't going to listen to him, he could see in their eyes that many of them were actually enjoying this.

Not for the first time did Naruto wish he had Sasuke with him. Sasuke could simply cast a genjutsu with his mangekyo and they would all simply go to sleep long enough for them and the team of Sannin to escape. There would be no need for this blood shed.

Naruto sighed. Just wishful thinking. Sasuke was dead. Kinda. The Sasuke Naruto knew was dead. He wasn't coming back. But he would be born in a year or two.

When the enemy number started to notably dwindle, Naruto sheathed his blade and used his smaller weapons and his taijutsu to incapacitate the shinobi. If they couldn't fight they couldn't pose a threat.

At last he punched the last chuunin - who he sadly determined could be no older than fourteen years old - in the face hard enough to knock them out. In slow motion the boy's eyes rolled back and he fell to the dusty ground with a sickening thud. His chest still rose and fell but in Naruto's eyes the young boy looked dead.

Naruto kneeled down to the ground and squeezed his eyes shut. He tapped his fingers in the dirt as a way to keep his breathing rhythmic so this time he wouldn't pass out. Why did this happen every time? Why couldn't he just deal with it like a normal person?

He knew someone was approaching him even though their steps didn't make a sound. A cold hand rested gently on his shoulder. Naruto flinched away from the touch. The anxiety of frustration started to ebb just a little though, the unwelcomed weight of the hand a comforting reminder that this time, he wasn't the only one left.

He took another calm breath and rose to his feet to meet the eyes of a man he once hated. Now he only severely disliked him.

"Where is Tsunade?" he asked in a blank, hard voice that suggested he wasn't having a panic attack in the bloodied dirt only a few seconds prior.

"Still in cave." Orochimaru relayed in his voice that always seemed on the edge of become a snake-like hiss.

Naruto didn't respond to him in any way, just turning on his heal and disappearing in a flash, reappearing a second later carrying a still-unconscious Tsunade, bridal style in his arms, his black jacket securely closed over her naked torso.

Jiraiya came down from the foot of the mountain in a clumsy dash. "You're that Naruto guy Minato won't shut up about!" he said somewhat excitedly before he had even reached them. This whole encounter was making a lot more sense to the sannin now.

Orochimaru's eyes sparkled with interest at the name.

Naruto grimaced. "Yeah." he confirmed shortly, not eager to talk about it. "Let's go. I have a route planned. It isn't the shortest, but it is the safest. Fifty kilometers from here is a village with a hospital where Lady Tsunade can rest and get proper treatment. I scoped it out on my way, there aren't any enemies as best as I can tell." he explained to them, a little grim as he couldn't entirely ignore the blood that was drying on his hands.