Chapter 146: Mission Failed

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

Dialogue

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 146: Mission Failed

The distant sounds of people approaching broke the silence.

Sasuke snapped back to reality and moved closer to the cliff, but he was still in shock. Naruto noticed but didn't try to stop him. Sasuke had lost his will to fight.

Without saying a word, Sasuke jumped onto the head of the First Hokage's statue, and then leaped across the valley to the other side.

Naruto looked down at Sakura for a moment. There was nothing he could do for her… she was gone.

"Well, you did succeed in stopping the fight," he said quietly. "Not sure it was worth your life, though." This was not the outcome he wanted.

The sounds grew louder as people neared. Three figures came into view, they were two men and a young woman.

Naruto didn't recognize the men, but their attire indicated they were medics. He did however recognize the woman....it was the Hokage's asistant, Shizune.

"Naruto!" she called out to him immediately.

He pointed to Kiba. "Take care of him first. I don't think he'll last long otherwise."

The two medics hurried to Kiba's side and began assessing his condition.

"What about you, and…?" Shizune's breath caught when she saw Sakura. "Oh no!, is that?..."

"It's too late for her," Naruto said.

Despite this, Shizune moved quickly to Sakura's side, but it didn't take long for her to realize that Naruto was right. There was nothing she could do for anyone.

"What happened here?" Shizune demanded to know. They had just missed seeing Sasuke for a few seconds.

"It'd be better if I saved the full explanation for when the Hokage is present," Naruto replied. He didn't want to repeat himself.

"What about Sasuke Uchiha?, where is he?" She asked.

"Gone. He crossed the border." Naruto pointed in the direction Sasuke had taken just moments before.

"The mission failed then…" Shizune glanced at Sakura with a pained expression. "In more ways than one."

"What about the others? Any other casualties?" Naruto asked.

"Shino and Chouji are in serious condition, but no deaths," Shizune replied. "They've all been sent back to the village, along with the two surviving enemies."

Naruto nodded, relieved to hear no one else had died.

Shizune walked over to the other medics. "How is he?"

One medic was holding Akamaru, while the other attended to Kiba.

"The dog has a few fractures, but nothing serious. The boy, however, has deep cuts and has lost a lot of blood. We need to get him back to the village immediately."

"Then do so," Shizune ordered. "I'll take care of the rest."

As they left, Shizune turned to Naruto.

"What about you? Anything serious?" She glanced at his right arm with concern.

"I'll be fine with some rest. You know how fast I heal."

Shizune unrolled a scroll on the ground. "Can you help me lift her onto the scroll?"

Naruto recognized the symbols well enough to know it was a storage scroll. He'd read that only inanimate objects could be sealed inside them.

'I guess the dead count as inanimate,' Naruto thought grimly. Mortal bodies were nothing more than bags of flesh once life had left them.

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Upon arriving at Konoha, Naruto was taken directly to the Hokage's office, along with Shikamaru. The others had all been sent to the hospital for check-ups.

Shikamaru, as team leader, was responsible for giving the report, despite a few injuries of his own. Naruto, as the last person to see Sasuke, needed to give his account, including the details of Sakura's death.

Tsunade didn't ask Naruto if he had intentionally allowed Sasuke to escape. Perhaps she feared that he might answer honestly, forcing her to discipline him for it.

Naruto listened quietly as Shikamaru gave his report.

He learned that the two captured enemies were a Genjutsu user named Tayuya and another who resembled a spider, apparently named Kidomaru.

He also discovered that Rock Lee had been found by Shizune's team. He'd been pursuing Sakura but collapsed halfway through the forest. His body had barely recovered from surgery, so it was already impressive he'd made it that far.

By the time Naruto left the office, it was nearly midday, and he'd been on the move since the previous night.

When he finally reached his apartment, he took a long shower and collapsed onto his bed. By then, all his wounds were completely healed.

All he needed now was rest. Today, he had pushed his young body to its limits. The moment he placed his head on the soft pillow, his eyes closed.

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A loud knock on the door woke him.

Naruto groaned and opened his eyes.

"What time is it?..." he murmured, still a bit disoriented. Meaning that he must have slept for a while.

"It's almost midday. You've been asleep for nearly twenty-four hours."

Naruto looked to the foot of his bed, where a man was standing, watching him. "What's the point of knocking if you're just going to sneak inside?"

"For courtesy?" Kakashi's expression was unreadable behind his face mask.

Naruto sighed. "Is there something specific you need? I assume Tsunade gave you the full report. You must know everything that happened..."

"I'm not here to ask you any questions. I already have a pretty good idea of what happened…" Kakashi moved to the desk near Naruto's bed.

"I just came to check on my student. And…" He lifted several packs of ramen, holding them out to Naruto. "I thought we could eat. You must be hungry, at the very least."

Naruto's stomach growled, confirming Kakashi's assumption. He hadn't eaten in over a day.

"I suppose I am."

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