A cold morning fog. The sounds of the world were silent. Nothing stirred. Even the air had seemed to stop moving. It was if the fog had a spell upon the land. All the warmth and life that had been on and near the path was now drained away. This included the life of the now nameless sound ninja; the corpse that now motionless upon the road in a pool of its own blood. Its deaf ears could not hear the sounds of footsteps walking away, nor could its eyes see the three-cloaked figures walking away. There it sat, slowly being engulfed by what it was surrounded by. A cold morning fog.
Light shone through Naruto's window, hitting his eye quite nicely. This of course caused his eye to snap right open, which in turn blinded his left eye. He sat up and rubbed the eye, vainly attempting to restore sight into it. "This is not a good way to start off the day," he said sleepily. He took off his nightcap and immediately got dressed. His stomach growled, but he knew he couldn't eat. He had to much to do today. He was going to have to skip breakfast, lunch and dinner. He hung his head at the thought and left his house, with the sun barely breaking the horizon.
Since it was this early in the morning, Naruto was surprised to see what looked like a traveler. He had on a cloak that covered everything, even his face. Naruto sighed inwardly. This guy probably was trouble, and he had to deal with it. Naruto sighed to himself. Why did it have to be today, of all days? Walking up to the man, Naruto held out a hand to stop him. "Excuse me, can I ask what your doing out so early in the morning?"
The man stopped about and inch away from Naruto's hand. "I'm just enjoying the coolness of the morning. Is that a crime?" He asked sarcastically. This guy's attitude annoyed Naruto. "No, it isn't, but I'm just making sure there's no trouble."
The man laughed. "Well, then let me go, and there will be no trouble." Naruto glared at the man. He really was starting to piss him off. "Now look here…" Naruto started, but stopped after the man revealed one of his eyes to Naruto.
A woman screamed as a sword ran through her chest. A man got sliced in half from an unknown assailant as a house caught on fire. Arrows pierced into a young boy's body from all sides; these and many more horrific images ran through Naruto's head for what seemed like hours.
Tsnuade, Jiraya, Kakashi, Might Guy and Kurenai all stood around the hospital bed that now contained what might be called Naruto's body, though it could hardly be called a body. If it weren't for incredibly fast healing, Naruto's body would have been a smear. Tsnuade had managed to heal all the life threatening wounds, yet his body was still covered with seep cuts, bruises, burns, scraps, and almost any other type of injury one could think of. It wasn't his body that worried them. It seemed that Naruto's mind had snapped. "You think this was the work of Itachi?" Might Guy asked.
Jiraya answered that question for Tsunade so she could continue her thinking. "No. If this were Itachi's work, he would have taken Naruto with him. This is from someone else." Kakashi shook his head sadly. He could barely stand to look at his student in this condition. He instead decided to talk to the increasing crowd that was growing in the hospital's waiting room, hoping to hear word on Naruto's condition. Turning his back, he headed from the room and down to the waiting room.
As Kakashi walked into the waiting room, he was assaulted with questions from everyone. Ignoring the screaming of questions, Kakashi took a count of who was there. Everyone he expected, and then some, was all there. Kakashi put up his hand, and everyone immediately fell silent. "Now listen, Naruto's going to be okay. He's just a little…banged up. Tsunade's healing him, so I'm confident he'll make a good recovery. Since he is in the hospital, I can only allow a few of you to see him at the moment."
At this, murmurs started up. Kakashi continued. "I'm heading back up to Naruto's room, and only Sakura, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji and Lee can come with me. The rest you can leave, and I'll make sure Naruto knows you all came by when he wakes up." The crowd slowly started to leak out. The five Kakashi had named slowly made their way up the stairs to Naruto's room. Kakashi was about to head up for himself, when he felt a tugging against his sleeve. He turned and saw Hinata standing there, a wrapped box in her hands. "Excuse me, Kakashi sensei. C…Could you please give this to Naruto?" she asked timidly. Kakashi smiled behind his mask.
"Don't you think it would be better if you gave it to himself yourself?" he asked, motioning to the stairs. At this Hinata blushed, and started walking up the stairs. Half way up, Kakashi and she encountered Choji, green and holding his mouth, running down the stairs to what they could guess was the nearest bathroom. Finally, as they reached the top f the stairs, they encountered the main group. All of them looked ill. "Was Naruto a little to bloody for you guys?" Kakashi asked.
"Sensei, you told us he was a little banged up. That is not a little banged up!" Sakura accused him. Kakashi shrugged. "Would you have preferred the truth, and have me tell you he was in a near death state?" At this, Hinata gasped. Kakashi glanced down at her. "Well, now that you know, don't worry. He's stable, and won't die." Hinata nodded, and walked over to the room with the open door. She poked her head around the corner and gasped at the sight of Naruto's torso and head. The teachers didn't even bother to look over at here, Kurenai just waved for her to come in. Hinata put her gift for Naruto on the bedside and joined the teachers surrounding Naruto's body. Even though he was in pretty bad shape, Hinata could help blushing at the sight of Naruto's bare torso. He had certainly gotten more muscular. Everyone stood there in silence.
Hinata got a fly whimsy. She slowly reached out her hand to touch Naruto's face. Just as her fingers slightly brushed his cheek, his hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. He sat up; his face was not and Inch away from hers. His eyes snapped open, and the eyes that stared into hers were not the blue eyes that she had wished to stare into. They were those of the accursed demon fox. "The Kunai went right through her heart!" He shouted. He then went limped, and seemed to fall back asleep. Kurenai had to escort the now shaking Hinata out of the room. The other teachers were shaken now, except for Tsnuade and Jiraya. Tsunade was actually smiling. "You figure out what was wrong with him?" Jiraya asked Tsunade. "You bet I have" was her response.