#13

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A SAGE ADRIFT

#13

Being carried like this was not pleasant but comfort was the last thing on Naruto's mind as he and Emma Frost made their way towards the barn. The barn's state was not good, with multiple walls having collapsed along with the roof partially tilted over. Safe to say that most of the inhabitants of the farm that were hiding there had come out and were looking around for help.

He was confused as to why they couldn't see him but then he realised who he was with. Emma Frost is a renowned businesswoman blessed with the powers of telepathy. A telepath on the same level as Charles Xavier. It would be a petty trick for her to just make the people in front of them so that they would ignore their presence.

Soon, he was standing right in front of the barn and he could see that almost everyone on the farm was accounted for. There were some bruises and cuts here and there on the adults but the kids were all fine. The thing he dreaded the most was the absence of both Richard and Dorothy.

He could also hear faint crying from the inside as upon his nudging, Emma Frost took him inside the barn.

"Remove the perception filter," he told her once they entered the run-down barn. She didn't reply but he could hear the gasps of the people outside as they must have appeared out of nowhere for them.

Inside, he could see torn-down walls and spilled-over old equipment that was blocking their way. They carefully made their way through the blockages only to see Richard hunched over the form of Dorothy.

"No No No NOO!" Naruto shouted the last part as he flailed about in the telekinetic grip of Emma Frost.

"Stay Still!" He heard Emma say to him but there was only one thing on his mind at the moment. HE had failed someone once again. He had failed to save Dorothy and for what?

For the heat of the battle. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he stumbled towards the downed form of Richard and Dorothy, once Emma Frost had given up and released him from her telekinetic grip.

Richard looked at him with a stoic face but he could see the tears staining his face and the anger and helplessness in his eyes.

With a determined look in his eyes, he kneeled near Dorothy and willed his right arm, the one made with the Hashirama cells, to do something. He had once healed an injured rabbit back in the forest using his arm but it was all done on instinct. He didn't know how to replicate it on demand.

Especially now since he did not have a lick of energy in his body. He could hear Emma sighing in the background before her footsteps receded out of the barn.

Willing for the meager dimensional energy to work, he was crestfallen to realise that his body, specifically his right arm was in no shape to work. In the first place, his right arm dangled about uselessly anyway, damaged beyond his current healing capabilities in the fight with Cain.

Before he could turn around and beg Frost for help, there was a familiar golden portal that opened up in front of him and through that a familiar container tumbled through, landing straight in front of him.

'The Ancient One!' Naruto thought to himself.

Richard had backed over from the mystic scene while hope once again bloomed in his eyes as he looked at the Sands of the Power Cosmic. Maybe those can help his energy levels to recover?

Scrambling towards the container, just like last time, he put his hand through the container but this time his finger managed to touch the sand before his entire world went white.

It lasted only for a moment but a huge amount of information was downloaded into his brain before his vision cleared up and he was now standing in the same position as before but just clad in a purple swirling storm of energy. 

He could tell that the purple energy was not his because he was just as exhausted as before but in a way, that was good. His body would not be able to handle the stress of energy of that level just coursing through his body.

No, to heal Dorothy he would have to take an alternate route. 

Gingerly extending his right arm, he touched the swirling storm. His face lit up as there were little wisps of purple energy that were absorbed by his right arm. He could feel his cells being revitalised as the right arm which was only loosely joined to his body started healing.

Soon, the arm was covered in a familiar green glow but instead of the cells healing his body, he willed for them to stop the process. It was difficult because he had no experience with them but he had to do it. 

For Dorothy.

He then slowly walked out of the purple storm of energy and kneeled beside Dorothy, holding on to his right arm. He willed for it to move the same way it did when he healed the rabbit and was delighted to find it did so without any complaints.

His right arm, glowing green, began flowing like a liquid before it covered the entire body of Dorothy. She was not visible to him but the intense green glow of his arm clued in on the fact that it was working.

At Least her body was being healed. He had no idea about her mind though.

"What are you doing?! Get away from her!" He heard the heavy footsteps of Richard before he saw him running towards him with a shovel in his hand.

"Ugh, stop!" The familiar voice of Frost could be heard as Richard's eyes glazed over and he stopped right in his tracks.

He looked behind Richard to see Frost back in the barn, crossing her arms while glaring at him.

He nodded subtly in thanks to which Emma Frost just rolled her eyes. She then walked over and looked at the green slurry that covered Dorothy with a fascinated look in her eyes.

Hesitating, he thought of any repercussions that could come with bringing her back from the dead, however short it might have been. Especially on her mind as he was sure that healing her body would not be an issue. The only people he knew that could deal with the minds were the Yamanaka from back home and even they didn't exactly have the most experience in healing broken minds.

Breaking minds? Sure.

Even then, the closest beings to the Yamanaka here were telepaths and coincidentally, there was a very powerful telepath standing right next to him. He just was not sure about trusting her with DOrothy's mind though because as much good that Emma had done for mutantkind, her hands were just as stained as some of the villains of this world.

Sighing, he made up his mind to ask for her help. It was not as if he had anybody else to turn to. Xavier was an option but after today's fiasco, he was loathe to trust that man or anybody that works for him.

Xavier clearly knew about the attack since he warned him about it but did not be arsed to protect or at least warn these people about it. He even had the strength to just convince them to go away from the place lest they be harmed but he just told him and went on his merry way, showing a shocking disregard for the life of normal human beings.

Clearing his throat, he asked Emma once her attention was back on him, "Can you sense her mind?"

Emma looked at him for a moment longer before closing her eyes and then nodding back at him a moment later.

Before he could ask his next question though, she replied.

"Don't expect her to come out of this unharmed. The Human mind is a complex thing that has so far not been completely understood by anyone, not even us telepaths, but the one thing everybody knows is that it needs the Brain to be physically healthy for a mind to function properly. Dorothy here has been dead for a couple of minutes now and while that would have been fine for a healthy human, she is old."

He looked at Emma with a frown. "But the way my powers work, she will be healed completely"

"Yes and as I said, her brain was not healthy a couple of minutes ago so things can go either way. I have no wish to experience death so I have not delved into her mind as of now but I should be able to tell her exact state once she wakes up. Until then, there is nothing you can do."

"Um,"

"What?"

"About the people outside.."

"Don't worry about them. The cell reception came back once my people found the cell jammer of those idiots and turned it off. Your people are now waiting for medical help on the street in front of the entrance. The Police will be right behind them so you should wrap this up soon."

Naruto nodded to her, grateful for her help in this situation. He will make sure that Dorothy is properly healed before leaving their lives. She had shown him such kindness and taken him in and what did she get in return?

She almost lost her life because of him and the only reason he was able to help her was because of outside help. If the Ancient One or Emma Frost had not arrived on time, there was no telling what could have happened today.

At the same time, Naruto growled as he thought of the organisation known as Friends of Humanity. He will not let them go. Naruto then suddenly remembered something.

"About the Juggernaut?"

"Don't worry about him, he has already been moved and this time, I will personally make sure that he does not land up in the hands of a terrorist organisation that can just aim him anywhere they like."

He nodded in satisfaction. The Juggernaut was a scary foe who could kill and rampage without much opposition as, according to the information he had access to, there were few beings on the planet who could even withstand a single blow from Cain Marko.

"Even then, I am impressed." He looked towards Emma as she made that sudden statement.

'What? You don't think defeating the Juggernaut in a straight-up fistfight is impressive? Fewer people have tried and even fewer survived Juggernaut once he started his rampage. Consider yourself lucky though because there was some unexpected interference but that was dealt with by the sorcerers." 

Sorcerers?

"The Ancient One?" Naruto asked Emma about it.

Emma cocked her to one side as she looked at him in interest.

"You've met the Ancient One? The Old Bald Lady herself?"

Naruto nodded slowly, unsure about the question.

"That explains stuff," Emma whispered to herself but before he could ask her about the interference and how the Ancient One helped, the Hashirama cells receded back into his right arm, revealing a completely healed Dorothy.

Gasping for breath, he suddenly realised how exhausted he was due to the fight and then the healing. He was still not used to healing someone and it took a lot of unnecessary energy for him to do so.

Extending his right hand behind him, he grinned once he saw the purple storm following his mind and heading right towards him, followed by the container golding the Purple Sand. As soon as his hand touched the purple swirls of energy, he breathed in deeply because his entire body was being haled due to that.

But before he could celebrate properly, he doubled down in pain as his body nearly shut down due to the stuff it had gone through today,

"Okay," Naruto muttered through clenched teeth, "No more energy use for today,"

"Are you okay?" Emma asked him.

"Yeah, I will be fine. Just check on Dorothy once more please."

"Fine. But you owe me for this and are coming with me to repay all of this."

"Yes, I am aware of that."

"As long as you know," Emma said before she placed both of her arms on the two sides of Dorothy's head.

It felt like forever due to the pain but Emma was done in a couple of seconds at best.

"Okay, I have inspected her psyche for damage but it seems like she made it out safely. We will let her go to the hospital for now and check up on her once she has gained consciousness. In the meantime, we should leave." Emma said while gesturing towards an open clearing in the distance through which a person came flying through.

No, not flying through. He was floating on something, something nearly invisible.

"This is Alex, he can make and manipulate forcefields. He will be our ride home. Now, come on, we don't have much time."

Naruto tried to stand up but just fell down to his knees due to the pain.

"Ugh," He heard Emma groan before he felt his entire body being lifted like before.

Soon, they were on their way to Emma's base and the Davis farm shrunk until it was no longer visible from the distance.

He just hoped that Dorothy found it in herself to forgive him for everything. 

Because he would not be forgiving himself until the culprits behind everything are not taken to justice.

Word Count - 2285

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Toodles!