Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 27 Friends

Carefully Sakura lowered Taryn to the ground. The older girl said nothing. Her face was still white and her eyes had a dead look. “Are you okay?” Sakura asked carefully, “do you need an antidote or…”
“I’m not injured,” Taryn said in a raw voice, “water…” She coughed.
“Of course,” Sakura said and hurried to the pool outside to fill her canteen.
Taryn gratefully took it and wetted her mouth. She spit out a mouthful before she drank. “Thank you,” she said.
Sakura nodded.
“Sakura,” Chiyo said, “we should go.”
“I’m coming too,” Taryn said and pulled herself up against the wall. Chiyo gave her a disapproving look, but Taryn’s expression stopped any comment she might have given.
“I can’t carry both of you,” Sakura said.
“I can walk!” Taryn snapped, “I have to get to my brother!” Without looking she stalked out of the cave.
“Okay,” Sakura muttered. She put an arm around Chiyo and followed after Taryn.

***

Kakashi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and caught Deidara in a genjutsu, but it cost him a lot of effort.
Naruto looked at his teacher amazed. ‘This jutsu is awesome,.’  
Deidara looked at his disappearing arm in shock. “Ocular jutsu,” he gasped, “oh no.”
Kakashi gasped in pain and placed a hand over his eye. ‘I missed,’ he thought to himself, ‘I can’t properly control the position and size of the barrier space.’  He panted. Even this short use of the Sharingan had exhausted him.
In the meantime Naruto had snuck up behind Deidara and cast a Rasengan at him. Deidara was blown aside. Naruto quickly made two clones to catch Gaara and landed safely on a tree branch. The real Naruto made his way to Kakashi. “Kakashi-sensei, are you alright?”
Kakashi nodded. “Yeah… I think so.” His Mangekyo turned back to a regular Sharingan.
Deidara examined the damage to his body. ‘My right arm too. I can’t use jutsu anymore. It’s come to this huh. But running into something with Itachi-level eye jutsu… this Jinchuuriki is nothing… the problem is how to deal with Kakashi.’
“It’s time for you to get hit,” Naruto growled at him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Deidara sighed, “I’ll have it out with you some other time.”
“You’re too careless,” Kakashi said.
Deidara looked confused. Then he noticed one of Naruto’s clones approach him from behind, but it was too late to dodge. Deidara was pinned to the ground by a few clones as Naruto leaped at him with Rasengan. Deidara’s body vanished and left a lump of clay behind.
‘A substitute?’ Kakashi though. He looked up when Sakura and Chiyo landed next to him. “Finally caught up with you,” Sakura said.
A few feet behind, Taryn stumbled into the clearing. When she had reached them she fell to her knees. All her energy was gone.
“How did you know we where here?” Kakashi asked.
“We saw the enemy fly over,” Sakura said.
“You guys did it,” Naruto said.
Kakashi turned to Taryn. He had never seen the girl so beaten. Before he could speak however, Taryn beat him to it.
“Where’s Gaara?” she asked. Her voice was trembling. Her eyes landed on the tree branch where Naruto’s clones were holding Gaara’s body.
“Good,” Chiyo said, following her gaze.

Deidara, who had been watching from a distance, suddenly found himself surrounded by another group of ninja.
“Good job Neji,” Gai complimented.
Down in the clearing, the others looked up in surprise. Gai’s team had arrived.
Deidara jumped as Tenten threw a handful of shuriken in his direction. ‘I won’t be able to outrun them,’  he thought. He landed on the ground and created a huge clay bomb.
“Everyone, be careful!” Kakashi warned, “he uses bombs to attack from a distance!”
Deidara laughed. “Let me show you my ultimate art… it’s a blast!”
Neji stared at Deidara and gasped. ‘All this chakra is concentrating on one point and… oh no…’ “Everyone, get out of here!” he yelled. But when they crawled to their feet, the explosion had already started. “We’re not gonna make it,” Neji said.
Suddenly the sky was clear and it was silent. The others looked around the clearing confused. Kakashi panted and suddenly collapsed to the ground.
“Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto yelled.
Sakura stared at him wide-eyed. “What on earth… did you do?”
“I.. teleported him… and the … explosion… to another space,” Kakashi breathed, “but nevermind that… is everyone okay?”
“Sakura,” Naruto said, a pleading look in his eyes. Carefully his clones placed Gaara on the ground.
Sakura’s eyes saddened as she kneeled beside him and she shook her head. 
Taryn started crying again. She had known of course, but still… there had been a thread of hope. A part of her that had refused to believe…
Neji kneeled next to her with a sympathetic look and she gratefully buried her head in his shoulder, unable to look at Gaara’s dead face.
Naruto’s eyes started watering too. His fists were tight against his body. “Why?” he asked in a raspy voice, “why Gaara? Why always Gaara? If he dies like this… he’s Kazekage… He’s just become Kazekage….”
“Calm down Uzumaki Naruto,” Chiyo said.
Naruto turned to her with a furious expression. “Shut up!” he shouted, tears running freely now. “If you Sand shinobi hadn’t put that monster in Gaara, none of this would have happened! Did you ever consider what Gaara thought?! Did you ever ask?! Who are you to decide that fate for someone else?!” he cried loudly and wiped his eyes.
“Naruto,” Sakura whispered sadly.
“I couldn’t save Sasuke,” Naruto cried, “I can’t save Gaara… for three years I’ve trained like crazy, but nothing has changed.”
Chiyo sighed. She looked from Naruto to Taryn, who was silently crying in Neji’s shoulder, to Naruto again and she moved over to Gaara’s body. When she placed her hands on Gaara, both Naruto and Taryn looked up.
Sakura gasped. “Granny Chiyo, that jutsu!”
Chiyo gave her a comforting smile.
“What’s she doing?” Naruto asked.
Taryn held her breath. She knew.

“There’s still… something I must do…”

‘This is what she meant,’ Sakura thought, ‘in exchange for her own life…’  
“That’s…” Gai said.
“Yeah,” Kakashi sighed.
“What are you dong?! Naruto demanded.
Sakura turned to him. “She’s going to bring Gaara back.”
“Back?” Naruto asked confused, “to life?” He looked at Gaara. “She… can really do that?” Sakura’s eyes saddened. “Only granny Chiyo can perform that jutsu…”
Neji concentrated on the flow of chakra. There was more to this. Then he realized. ‘That chakra flow… such a jutsu requires…’  He glanced at Taryn. In her eyes he found the answer.
“Ugh,” Chiyo groaned, “no.. not enough chakra…”
“Please use my chakra,” Naruto dropped to his knees on Gaara’s other side. “Is that possible, granny?”
Chiyo looked at him for a long time. She saw the look in his eyes. “Place your hands on mine,” she said. Without hesitation Naruto did as she told him. Taryn eyed it concerned. She would have added her own chakra in a heartbeat, but after three days in those chains, she had nothing left. “In this shinobi world created by frivolous old people,” Chiyo said, “I’m glad souls like you have come along… Up till now, everything I’ve done has been wrong, But… at the very end… I think I might finally be able to do something right. Suna and Konoha… may their future be… something different from our time… This… special power of yours…,” she looked at Naruto, “Kakashi spoke of it. That power will change the future dramatically. Become a Hokage the like of which has never been seen…. And Sakura… in the future… don’t save a dying old woman like me… help those you truly care about. You’re... a lot like me… so few women possess such strong spirit… you’ll likely surpass your teacher… Taryn… a loyalty like yours I’ve never seen before… no matter what… never lose that. It’s what makes you strong…” She sighed. “Naruto… I have a favor to ask… You’re the only person who truly knows Gaara’s pain… Gaara also knows your pain. Please… look after Gaara.”