Chapter 22: Curse

Naruto was woken up with frantic banging on his apartment door. The sound alone was enough to make him jolt out of bed. He quickly got dressed, the banging on his door not ceasing the slightest, if at all getting more intense and frequent. 

"Alright alright, I'm coming!" He shouted. "Don't break my damn door! My landlord will have my ass on a silver platter!" He put on his slippers and quickly exited his room and went to his door, opening it wide and seeing Sakura panting slightly, her eyes slightly red from crying.

"Sakura?" He was confused. Why would Sakura be at his door like this? "What's wrong?" Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes again, causing Naruto's blue eyes to widen slightly. 

"I-It's Sayuri," She hiccupped, her voice on the edge of hysterics. "Apparently she was attacked last night! They branded her or something with a mark on her neck! I found her this morning passed out and she was brought to the hospital!" 

After she had said something about a mark, Naruto's ears had stopped listening, his eyes wide and his body trembling with anger. He knew exactly what happened. "Orochimaru," He whispered with so much anger and venom that Sakura stopped talking, shocked as Naruto cursed the name. 

His grip on his doorknob caused the metal to bend into a now unrecognizable clump of metal. "You bastard." The amount of loathing in his voice scared Sakura, never seeing Naruto as filled with anger as she did now. 

"Naruto?" Her voice breaking him out of his trance. He looked up and saw her emerald-colored eyes filled with a bit of fear, but mostly filled with worry. He forced himself to calm down, taking a deep breath before releasing it in a large sigh. 

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," He apologized quickly and gave her a reassuring smile. "How about we go visit Sayuri in the hospital together?" Sakura wiped a few tears away from her face and smiled at him.

"Sure, make sure you actually dress properly though," He was confused for a moment and looked down to see what he was wearing and paled when he was wearing hole-ridden pajama pants and a super-baggy t-shirt that reached down to his thighs. 

A healthy blush stained his cheeks as he laughed awkwardly out of embarrassment. "Wait right here, I'll go get changed!" He said quickly before shutting the door. Sakura looked down at the doorknob that was now incredibly disfigured. Why had he reacted like that? 

It seemed that he knew exactly what she was talking about when she mentioned Sayuri's injury. Was there something he knew that she didn't? It worried her that he was keeping secrets. During their team meeting, he had mentioned meeting Orochimaru again when he was out with Jiraiya to retrieve Tsunade but didn't say anything else. 

And when he had gotten angry just moments before, he had said Orochimaru's name. Was Orochimaru connected to this? She shook her head. Why would Orochimaru be interested in someone like Sayuri? He had attacked them during the Chunin Exams, but she had merely chalked it up to wanting revenge on Konoha shinobi. Was she wrong? 

Her thoughts were interrupted when Naruto emerged wearing a plain grey long-sleeved shirt with black cargo pants and boots. So this was his civilian clothing? It looked a lot like his shinobi attire. She shook her head. Naruto had no sense of fashion, but it was a thousand times better than that horrendous jumpsuit he always wore back in their academy days. 

He truly had changed a lot, hadn't he? 

As they walked towards the hospital, they talked about a variety of things, mostly about how their training was going. She asked him about his trip with Jiraiya and asked him about what Tsunade was like, but he shrugged the question off and gave her vague answers. But then he suggested that she go ask Tsunade for training, surprising her. 

When asked why he told her she had excellent chakra control and that she could be a combat medic. That way she could save lives as well as help fight. She liked the thought and told him she would consider it.

They finally arrived at the hospital and walked into Sayuri's room, the girl sleeping on her bed. She was sweating horribly, tossing and turning in her sleep. Naruto had a frown on his face as he looked at the Uchiha. She looked horrible. 

The bags under her eyes were evident enough that she had been sleeping restlessly. The sweat on her forehead and side of her face definitely meant she was running a favor. What was Tsunade doing? "Damn it," He whispered under his breath. He knew it. 

He should have killed Orochimaru. He should have disobeyed Tsunade and just taken the consequences. But now Orochimaru was running free within the Elemental Nations and now he couldn't do anything. He felt so powerless and it made him angry. It just gave him more to worry about. First the masked man and now this? What was next? Pain arriving three years earlier and flattening the village before he was strong enough to fight him off? 

He dispelled the thought. He didn't need to jinx himself. 

"She looks horrible," Sakura voiced both of their thoughts. "Will she be okay?" 

Naruto looked down at Sayuri's face, a frown marred her features. "Yes," He answered. "I think she will be. She's strong. She's survived things way worse than this. She can do it." He turned around, ready to walk out of the room. "Let's let her rest, standing here won't change anything, as sucky as that may sound, it's the truth." 

"Yeah," Sakura whispered, knowing that Naruto was right. "Maybe. . ." As she turned to walk away with Naruto, they both stopped as they felt a horrible chakra coming off of the Uchiha. Naruto froze. He knew exactly what that was. He had felt this chakra before when he had faced Sasuke in the Valley of the End all of those years ago. 

He slowly turned around, and sure enough, the curse mark that was branded onto the back of Sayuri's neck made black markings to spread across half of her body, her eyes wide open. She sat up, a small grin coming onto her face as she looked at her hands. 

The power she felt was incredible. It was unlike any high she ever had. This was it. She could take on the world with this power. She looked to her left and saw Sakura and Naruto looking at her with shock-filled eyes. 

"Dobe," She whispered. "Fight me." Naruto frowned as he turned around, facing the last loyal Uchiha of the village. 

"No," He answered calmly. "I won't fight one of my comrades, especially not you when you're in this state. Calm down, Sayuri." Sayuri snarled and threw the blankets off of her legs and grabbed Naruto by the collar in a blink of an eye and slammed him against the wall. 

"I said fight me dobe! I'm not taking no for an answer!" Naruto met her angry Sharingan eyes and felt older all of a sudden, the weight of two worlds crashing onto his shoulders. He looked down at the ground.

"Fine," He said reluctantly. "But not here, on the roof." Sayuri released him and quickly walked out of the room. Naruto sighed. 

"Naruto," Sakura began. "Are you sure about this? Something isn't right with Sayuri." Naruto met her eyes and let out a defeated sigh.

"I'm not sure about this, but I doubt she'll go easy on me in the slightest." He put his hands in his pockets. "But either way I have to do it. She'll just keep getting angrier the more I deny her. Best to just feed her ambition this once rather than starve her." Sakura nodded, understanding the position the blond was put into. It was not a pleasant one. 

She followed Naruto up the stairs and out onto the roof of the hospital, several sheets hanging out to dry. Naruto saw Sayuri standing there, waiting for him across the roof, a glare in her eyes. "I thought you weren't going to show up for a second dobe!" She shouted. 

Naruto met her crimson Sharingan eyes and shook his head lightly. "Sayuri, as much as I want to fight you, I don't want to fight you like this. I want to fight you as comrades of the Hidden Leaf, not whatever you're twisting this into." Sayuri snarled.

"Don't lecture me dobe! You're just the dead last! Stop thinking we're equal!" She shouted. "Ever since we became Genin you've been acting like you're better than me, but I'm going to set the record straight!" 

"That mark on the back of your neck is twisting your thoughts," Naruto tried reasoning but stopped that approach when he saw the look in her eyes. He let out a defeated sigh and straightened up. "Fine, I'll fight you." Sayuri smirked.

"It won't be much of a fight!" She made a few hand seals. "Now know your place you loser!" And with that, the fight began. 

And done. How was it? Good? Bad? Tell me! 

Anyway ye

Til next time my lil demons!