Chapter 50

Tsunade was easy to find. She was always gambling and left a trail of angry debt collectors. The mission had ended successfully. Similar to canon, Kabuto had appeared (not with Orochimaru of course). He had attempted to coerce Tsunade into helping him revive Orochimaru. 

Naruto had learned Rasengan and taken him out. Honoring her promise, Tsunade gave Naruto the First Hokage's necklace. More than a week passed. Soon, Naruto would leave with Jiraya. 

…

"Focus!" I said, smacking Naruto with my cane, "If you want to learn, you need to focus. Channel your chakra! Sense your surroundings." 

"Big sis…" he groaned and rubbed his leg, "If you keep hiting me I'll get distracted! Can't we just go on to the actual learning part?" 

"Naruto…" I sighed, "You are the worst sensor I have ever met. If you want to learn Flying Raijin, you need to be able to at least sense a little bit of your surroundings." 

"I can!" he protested, "I see a tree, I hear birds, I smell… Sakura!" he waved. 

I groaned, "Seriously?" 

"Hi Rin-sensei," she waved, "I'm on break right now. Tsunade-sama said I could come and watch." 

"Sakura," said Naruto, "Save meeee." 

She punched him and I snorted, "She's on my side, baka…" 

"I'm telling!" shouted Naruto, "I'm gonna… tell… Tsunade ba-chan." 

"Back to sensing," I said, "Sakura, sorry to trouble you, but could you maybe pour some chakra into this stone? I can't really…" 

She nodded, "sure." 

"Blindfold on," I said to Naruto, "No buts!" 

Sakura poured some of her chakra into a stone. I threw it a few feet away from Naruto. "Now walk around and find the stone." 

 I sat down nexto to Sakura and watched Naruto stumble around. "So sensei," Sakura clapped her hands together, "When is the wedding." 

"What." 

She pointed to the ring, "Aren't you and Genma-san getting married?" 

"Ah, thats…" I shrugged, "Sandaime said he would help us figure it out. I mean… I can't exactly do a lot right now. I've just been training you lot… I'd rather have something small, you know?" 

"Speaking of which," said Sakura, "Where's Genma?" 

I shrugged, "Mission with Raido. They have a three day deadline and he's suppose to come back today…" I stopped short, "I have to go. Naruto, Sakura, come on, to Hokage tower." 

I picked up my cane and started running. "Hey!" shouted Sakura, "You're not suppose to be running!" 

Naruto pulled off his blindfold and ran after me. Sakura sighed. "Wheres Sasuke," I slammed the door open, panting. 

Tsunade woke up with a jolt, ink from the documents staining her cheek. "You… should not be running. As a medic-nin, you should know-" 

"Where is Sasuke?" I asked again, "Oh god, now I really hate running." 

Tsunade sighed and signalled. Two ANBU appeared, "Godaime-sama!" 

"Search the village and bring us Sasuke Uchiha," she said. They turned and left, "Now why is it that you are looking for Sasuke." 

I sat down and sighed. "That was exhausting." 

"Serves you right for running," chastised Tsunade, "You should know better. If you keep this up you'll never recover!" 

"We both know I'm not gonna," I muttered. 

She glared at me, "Thats not a good way to think. Kids these days… always so negative." 

"Godaime!" one of the ANBU came back, "I have bad news to report." 

"Yes?" 

"We couldn't find him but we did find a battle scene at the outskirts of the village. We found traces of his firestyle and four unknown chakra signatures." 

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at me, "Care to explain?" 

"The Sound Four," I answered, "They are experiments of Orochimaur. He's dead now but his minions probably decided to kidnap Sasuke and finish what he started." 

"And how did you know?" she asked skeptically. 

"I had a feeling," I said, "Anyways can we get someone to go after them." 

"The village is currently low on manpower." 

"Fine," I said, "Can you get Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Neji, and Rock Lee here? Naruto will go with them too." 

"Yes," she said tiredly, "I'll ask Sunagakure for backup too… I'm sure they'll be happy to help." 

I stood up and walked out. "Where do you think you're going?" asked Tsunade. 

"Out?" I said meekly. 

She sighed, "I suppose I can't stop you. Just don't do anything dumb. And be careful!" 

I ran out and followed the path outside the village. "Iwashi! Shizune!" I stopped and panted, "Where's Genma and Raido." 

"They sensed something and went to check," answered Iwashi, "But it's been a while. Should we go check on them." 

"Lets go," I ran and followed the other two. We stopped. 

The trees were ripped from the ground. Smoking rose from the floor. Raido lay face down on the floor and Genma slumped against a tree. "Raido! Genma!" Shizune ran over to them. She rested her ear against Genma's chest. "He's not-" she looked at me, "I can stabilize him. Can you help Raido." 

I nodded and flipped him over. I clapped my hands together and winced as chakra flooded my pathways for the first time in a few weeks. I pulled out the shuriken and kunai and began to heal him. He started coughing, blood trailing from the corner of his lips. Then, I moved to his head. He had a pretty bad concussion. 

"I'm gonna kill them," growled Iwashi, the youngest of the three. 

"We don't even know what happened," said Shizune. 

Genma started coughing and he opened his eyes, "There were four of them… they all had cursed seals. And they had that boy…" he looked at me, "Sasuke. They were kidnapping him." 

"Orochimaru is dead," said Iwashi, "Why would they…" 

"Don't worry," I said, "We sent others after them. I trust… Naruto." 

"Come on," Shizune picked up Genma, "Iwashi, could you get Raido? Let's get you two back to Konoha." 

We ran again. When we got to the gate, Izumo and Kotetsu were there. "What happened?" they looked alarmed. 

Two of the villages tokubetsu jounin were badly injured. A group of medic-nin appeared with stretchers and Genma and Raido were whisked away. I laid down on the floor, exhausted. "You good?" Shizune looked down at me. 

"Just really tired," I said, "I haven't felt like this in ages. It might also be worth mentioning that it really hurts to use chakra." 

She frowned, "I think you'd better talk to Tsunade-sama about that." 

…

"One… two… three…" she pushed some of her chakra through. 

"Agh!" I winced at the burning sensation. 

"This is like… chakra sensitivity," she said, "But a lot worse… you said you got poisoned by Orochimaru? That snake…" 

"Well yes…" I said, "I'm pretty sure I got it out though." 

"I know you did," said Tsnuade, "What you are experiencing is probably a side effect or an after effect. I think the poison just affects your chakra pathways. The poison must have caused you to hurt your pathways. Did you do anything after being bitten." 

"Well… I might have…" I hesitated, "I might have used Strength of Hundreds to kill him." 

"Well there you have it," she sighed, "Just don't overexert yourself. I still don't know how you managed to learn it." 

…

"They're back!" called one of the medic-nin. 

I stood up, "Thank you." 

Kakashi ran in, carrying Naruto on his back. "He's fine," he said, "Just need some rest." 

I nodded, "Did you…" 

"We got him back!" grinned Naruto, "Sasuke is a baka for getting kidnapped. I saved him! Its all cause of me!" 

I smacked him with the cane, "Your friends helped to. Speaking of…" 

"Kiba is badly injured but nothing critical," he said, "Shikamaru broke a finger but thanks to Suna, he's fine. Neji and Choji are in the worst condition. Choji at three of those Akimichi special chakra pill things. Don't know how his body will react. They called the Nara's though." 

I nodded and turned to walk away, "Hey, where are you going?" 

"Sasuke." I said. We walked to his room. 

"Rin-sama," said one of the medics. 

I walked up to Sasuke, "He's not that badly injured." Mostly he seemd chakra exhausted. I placed my palm on his forehead. 

He sat up with a jolt. "Calm down," said Kakashi, "You're in the hospital." 

"Teme!" laughed Naruto, "I saved you!" 

Sasuke squinted at him then sighed, "Thanks." 

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura, dragging him by the ear, "Leave Sasuke-kun alone! Also, shouldn't you be in a hospital bed too?"