A/N: Another friendship fic, this time with all of rookie 9. The story is probably a bit UA, but I tried to keep everyone as in character as possible. (Also, if you squint, you can read Sasuke and Naruto's interaction as pre-slash, though I didn't intend it to be one way or another.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

Warnings: Slight description of stabbing someone and mentions of blood/bleeding.

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Naruto was really protective of his precious people. It might not have been well-known but that didn't make it any less true. Actually, only Iruka and the Hokage knew of his protective side before his stunt at the Naruto Bridge – losing control of the demon because of Sasuke's death kind of clued Kakashi in.

So yes, he was protective. Sue him. He hadn't had anyone to be protective over for most of his short life, and now that he finally had friends, he wasn't going to let go of them.

One thing he wasn't used to, though, was others being protective of him. (The Hokage didn't count because he was duty-bound to do so, and Iruka-sensei was more often irritated at him rather than worried over him.)

Yet here he was. Lying on a bed. At Sasuke's home. With all the other rookies surrounding him.

Sakura was fidgeting next to him, obviously worried if the way she kept glancing at him was anything to go by.

Ino and Hinata were sitting a little further, both of them with frowns on their faces.

Kiba and Akamaru were baring their teeth at any imagined threats and growling quietly.

Chouji was munching on his chips and Shikamaru lay down next to him, but both of them kept glancing at Naruto every few seconds.

Shino was sitting in a corner yet Naruto could sense his concerned gaze on him – he couldn't see it because of those damned sunglasses the other boy wore.

And Sasuke… Well, Sasuke was alternating between pacing angrily and scrutinizing Naruto as if trying to determine whether or not he was in pain.

Naruto was quite weirded out by their odd behaviour, but decided to just go along with it and enjoy his friends' obvious concern.

oooooooooooooooooooo

It had all started earlier that day. The rookie teams were not-so-happily doing D-ranks before getting trained by their respective teachers, and everything seemed perfectly normal.

Later that day, they all ended up at the same restaurant – Shikamaru figured out their teachers' involvement the fastest. But they decided to eat there anyway, if only because they knew their teachers wouldn't give up.

So Sasuke put up with Sakura and Ino's fangirling, Shino and Hinata conversed quietly while Kiba, Naruto, and Chouji made loud conversation with Shikamaru's occasional input.

They had fun, some more than others, but finally they were all finished and had to leave. Naruto had been wondering about the restaurants' tolerance towards him, but then he figured that his companions unnerved the owners – he would never know how the teachers had chosen this restaurant specifically because of its owners' neutral stand towards the whole jinchuuriki issue.

Naruto should have realized it was too good to last.

But he didn't, not until later, and he was just enjoying the night out with friends; and god, wasn't that a phrase he would never get tired of saying. Having friends (who weren't just 'occasional prank and/or skipping class buddies') was something unique and extraordinary to him.

The streets were rather empty as it was quite late, but none of the kids felt the need to hurry. They were all ninjas now, after all, and their parents knew that erratic hours came with the job – and some didn't have parents to worry about things like curfew, anyway.

They were a rowdy bunch, mostly thanks to Naruto and Kiba, and they attracted some attention. One early drunk, however, didn't seem to be paying attention to his surroundings at all and walked right into Hinata. The girl staggered and started to stutter an apology but the drunk wouldn't have any of it.

"What's your problem, brat?! Huh?! Walking into respectable people like meself! You must think your clan makes you all high and mighty, huh?!" he demanded. Shikamaru, the smartest of the group, looked around for other adults to help them handle the situation, but there didn't seem to be anyone nearby. Naruto was the only one realize that the man wasn't as drunk as he seemed, because really, drunks slurred, but he figured that he was just looking for a fight. He knew some people did it under the pretence of alcohol so they could have some excuse for their actions.

Hinata was apologizing again, but this time Kiba interrupted her.

"Shut up! You're the one who walked into her, you drunk!" he shouted angrily and Akamaru barked from next to him.

"What d'you know, you brat?! You're just another one of the clan kids!" the drunk yelled right back, and Naruto narrowed his eyes at the repeated insult. The others seemed just as offended, probably because they all in fact did belong to a clan – well, except Sakura, who was offended on Sasuke's behalf. Naruto was just about to open his mouth to yell back at the man when Akamaru stalked forward and growled at the drunk.

Naruto could have warned them if he had the time, but as it was, he only managed a short yelp.

The man kicked out, catching the puppy in the ribs and sending him flying back next to the rookies. The kids all pulled out their ninja weapons, some more hesitantly than others. Well, all of them except Naruto, who knew the rules about attacking civilians (the Hokage had made sure to stress them to him once his pranks started evolving).

"You're the ignorant asshole here, bastard!" the jinchuuriki shouted instead while stepping forwards, and while it may have seemed like he was looking for a fight, he was rather stepping in front of his friends to shield them.

"Really? Well you're one of – Wait, I know you!" the man exclaimed, pointing furiously at the blond. Naruto cringed slightly at the thought of the other rookies seeing the villagers' reactions to him, but he didn't back down.

"As you should know your future Hokage! But you shouldn't talk to Hinata-chan or Kiba like that! And you definitely shouldn't have kicked Akamaru!" Naruto frowned furiously, all the while ignoring the foreboding feeling he got. The feeling was explained by the sound of running feet, though, and while the Sakura and Shikamaru turned to look at the approaching adults in relief and the others kept glaring at the drunk, Naruto prepared himself mentally.

"Shut up you demon brat! Hey, look, the demon's bothering these kids!" the drunk called out to the approaching people, and while there were no more than four of them, Naruto cursed his bad luck. The other rookies frowned in confusion and Sasuke opened his mouth to correct the man's statement but didn't get a chance before one of the four new adults cut him off.

"Go away! You shouldn't bother respectable people!" And really, Naruto hadn't expected the statement to hurt that much, but he guessed that he was still slightly insecure about his friendship with the 'respectable' kids.

"I'm not –" he tried to say, seeing as his friends were too busy trying to figure out what the hell was going on, but suddenly he could only cough as his throat and mouth were filled with something.

It took him a while to realize it was blood.

His friends' reactions helped speed that realization, though, since suddenly the offender – the drunk man – was screaming due to the pain from the multiple kunai that pierced his skin, and someone was tugging at something on Naruto's torso.

A piece of glass – Oh. It was a piece of a bottle that was sticking out from his chest where the drunk had stabbed him.

The other adults were frozen in place and glanced worriedly between the rookies, well expect Naruto and Sakura, who was the one trying to get the piece of glass out of his gut.

Naruto's brain, which was apparently in shock before, suddenly exclaimed that it wasn't such a good idea. It took slightly longer for it to remember why, and then Naruto was reaching down to stop Sakura's hands from moving the improvised weapon.

"Leave it," he said, or coughed rather since there was still blood clocking his airway and he knew it was a sign of a punctured lung but it'd heal soon anyway and oh right he had to explain, "it'll just bleed faster if you take it out."

He didn't know why Sakura hadn't remembered that, but it was probably due to the shock and such. Being ninja, they weren't supposed to be surprised, but Naruto highly doubted any of them had expected an attack from a civilian. The jinchuuriki was more accepting of the situation as he had been in a similar one before, though not since the Hokage had executed that one guy for trying to dig his eyes out. He supposed that this guy was just really stupid or more drunk than he had originally thought.

"We have to get you to the hospital," Sakura fretted, and Naruto couldn't help but wonder why she seemed so concerned over him now, but then dismissed the thought as too bitter and focused on explaining why going to the hospital wasn't needed.

"Look, I heal fast, right? I'll be fine in the morning, just get me home, yeah?" he managed to get out between the coughs, and the feeling of the blood dripping off his chin was starting to really creep him out. When Sakura went to protest, Naruto just gave her a feeble glare which seemed to work.

"My place," Sasuke said suddenly, and it took a while for the others to figure out what he meant. When they did though, they all looked at him in surprise, but the Uchiha just turned around and started leading the way. Naruto stared at his teammate's back incredulously, because really, since when did he too care about him? Though after remembering the bridge-incident as he liked to call it, he shrugged and took a few steps in Sasuke's direction.

He didn't get far before he was being picked up, and right as he opened his mouth to protest, he realized that it was Shino who was carrying him and he couldn't say anything due to shock. The other rookies followed them, none sparing another glance at the adults who were now scampering behind them based on the noises.

It didn't take the group long to make their way to the Uchiha compound. Sasuke noticed that the others were observing their surroundings, but he just frowned some more and led them to his house. They all appeared slightly unnerved by the whole 'ghost town' feeling the area gave, yet none of them spoke up or complained. Apparently they were all too concerned with Naruto's welfare – well, everyone besides Naruto himself, who was so unusually quiet because of the blood in his lungs.

When they arrived at Sasuke's place, he directed them to his bedroom since it was the only one with bed linens. He himself went to gather bandages and towels from the bathroom, where he wet some of the latter with lukewarm water.

Naruto was laid down on the bed and the others all waited anxiously for Sasuke to come with the equipment. Shikamaru was the one who realized that they could at least get Naruto out of his jacket and shirt. He was hesitant to do so, however, because the blood flow would increase once the piece of glass was pulled out. The problem was solved when Naruto himself reached down and grabbed the shard before tugging it out of his flesh. His pained grunt was drowned in the alarmed yells of the other rookies.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted and started fussing over the now heavily bleeding wound. Sasuke came running through the door with towels and bandages flying behind him, looking highly worried. When he realized what had happened – it wasn't difficult, seeing as Naruto still had the piece of glass in one hand – he sighed heavily and frowned at the jinchuuriki disapprovingly.

"Show some self-preservation, dope. Shikamaru, help him take his clothes off," Sasuke said flatly. The Nara moved to obey while Naruto rolled his eyes and Sakura moved out of the way. Sasuke himself started to clean the blood off with the wet towels, and Naruto looked at him questioningly when he dapped at the liquid around his mouth and chin. Sasuke didn't even notice, however, as he was fully focused on getting Naruto treated as soon as possible.

Shikamaru managed to get both the jacket and shirt off of Naruto with the jinchuuriki's and the Uchiha's help. Then Sasuke moved to wipe the blood from around the wound itself, while dapping carefully at the edges. Even so, Naruto hissed slightly in pain, but shook his head with a slight smile when Sasuke glanced up at him.

The others were looking at the pair rather incredulously, but soon that surprise was forgotten due to the sight of the stab wound on Naruto's chest. They cringed slightly, but all of them had seen worse – either on enemies or allies.

"Does anyone have experience on treating wounds?" Shikamaru asked suddenly, startling everyone. Naruto looked up at them while Sasuke stayed focused on his task. Surprisingly, it was Kiba who nodded and stepped forward hesitantly.

"What?" he demanded with a glower, "I've helped at our clan's clinic. With dogs, obviously, but wounds can't be that different on humans."

"Well, you know the most then, apparently," Shikamaru sighed and motioned for him to go to Naruto. Kiba did and Sasuke moved to the side, ready to assist if necessary.

"Right, first we need some disinfectant…" the Inuzuka started and glanced at the Uchiha whose house they were in.

"No, it's fine. Just bandage it up so the bleeding will slow down, my wounds never get infected," Naruto interrupted. The others looked at in alarm, but Shikamaru's expression soon moved to contemplative, and he told Kiba to follow Naruto's directions. He had apparently figured out that Naruto had experience with these kinds of things, and a very strong reason to believe himself to heal easily.

It didn't take long for Kiba to press the wound's edges together and bandage it up with Sasuke's help, and soon the Uchiha was looking for a shirt the jinchuuriki could borrow. When that was said and done, an awkward silence ensued.

And thus, we're back at where we started.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"So... What was –" Before Ino could finish her question, Hinata interrupted her.

"I'm so sorry! You got hurt because of me!" she cried out. The others stared at her incredulously, both because it was highly unusual for her to talk so loudly or interrupt someone else, and because it clearly had in no way been her fault that Naruto was stabbed.

"What are you talking about? I didn't get hurt because of you, I got hurt because of that bastard," Naruto frowned heavily. He glanced around, looking for someone to support his statement. Shikamaru sighed deeply before deciding that he should probably get the whole talking thing out of the way before their families started to worry (since none of them had mentioned staying out late or getting a mission that'd require them to be gone for the night.)

"He's right, Hinata. He clearly was a violent drunk, and I think he'd have hurt Naruto with or without an excuse. What I want to know is why," he said with a glance at the jinchuuriki, who winced in guilt over keeping a secret from his friends and avoided everyone's eyes.

"Naruto?" Sasuke questioned with a glower which, unknown to anyone else there, was actually used to hide his concern.

"It's nothing, really. I mean that was the first time it happened in years, so it's not that big of a deal," Naruto hurried to explain. Based on the widening eyes and furious expressions of the other rookies, he figured he had said something wrong. He felt like hitting his head against a wall when he realized that he had revealed that it had happened before, but it was probably due to his blood loss so he couldn't be too mad at himself.

"That would mean that you were a little kid!" Sakura exclaimed. She looked horrified at the thought that the citizens of the village she had sworn herself to would hurt a child like that.

Naruto sighed and lowered his eyes. He tried to think of something that would appease the others, but he couldn't come up with anything but lies. In the end, he decided to just reassure them that the civilians weren't evil and that the Hokage was on his side.

"Look, you might or might not have noticed, but the villagers don't like me much. It's not that they're bad people, they just need to blame someone, and it's easiest to blame me. Sometimes, there are some who decide to act on their hatred, but they always get punished so like I said, it hasn't happened in a while. It won't happen again for a while either since Hokage-jiji will probably execute that guy," he explained hesitantly. It didn't seem to help the others' worry any, however.

Some of the rookies were trying to remember how villagers had treated Naruto in their presence, and were coming up with an alarmingly large number of times the boy had been sneered or glared at. Others were trying to figure out the reason for the way the villagers treated Naruto, but were coming up empty. They all dismissed the thought of how the Hokage would even know who the drunk man was, since it went without saying that they would all report him and give a description of him tomorrow. Plus it was highly likely that he was at the Konoha hospital due to the multiple kunai wounds all over his body.

After a while of thinking, Sakura was the first one to make an important connection.

"Does this have anything to do with why my parents told me not to associate with you?" she asked with a frown. She knew that while she partly treated Naruto so badly because he was annoying, it was also partly because her parents were so against the blond.

When Naruto nodded cautiously, the others realized that most of their parents had expressed similar concerns. Shikamaru was the only one that didn't have either of his parents to warn him away, while Kiba and Chouji (as well as Hinata, but her shyness got in the way anyway) had simply ignored the seemingly nonsensical order.

Now the situation was different in their eyes. It wasn't just the random villagers who hated Naruto; their families were cautious about the boy as well. The rookies all furrowed their eyebrows, now more than ever concerned over the reason. Sasuke remembered that even his parents had told him to stay away from Naruto, while Itachi had been the one to assure him that there wasn't really anything wrong with the kid. He grimaced when he realized that he'd probably follow that man's advice rather than his parents', but really, Naruto was one of the most kind-hearted – or naïve – people ever.

"It's not really their fault, you know. It's just… They're probably just worried for you," Naruto awkwardly comforted the other rookies – or tried to, anyway. They all just looked at him dubiously and questioned what they knew about their parents, since apparently they hated a boy who none of them even knew personally.

Shikamaru was the only one without worries as the only mention his parents had made of Naruto was something along the lines of: "Some may tell you he's a monster, but you shouldn't believe them." He had simply put it out of his mind since it had never come up before. Now, however…

"Why did that man call you a demon?" Shikamaru asked suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere. In his mind, however, the connection from 'everyone hates Naruto' to 'calling him a demon' was perfectly clear.

"I… It's because of something that I didn't really do, but was part of anyway, and… I can't tell you," Naruto sighed with a wince. He couldn't look any of his friends in the eyes since he was sure that they were looking at him accusingly.

The other rookies glanced at each other and chose Hinata as their spokesperson without any apparent discussion.

"Naruto… You can tell us; we're your friends," she said quietly. The jinchuuriki looked at her in surprise since she hadn't stuttered once, and while she was a little red in the face, there was no accusation present, just concern – for him. He felt even guiltier for keeping the Kyuubi as a secret from them, but it wasn't like he had a choice. The fact that he wasn't sure whether he would have told them or not even if he had permission only added to the guilt, but he didn't want to lose his new friends, and he didn't know how they would react to the revelation.

"I mean I really can't. It's, well it's a secret," Naruto explained, and when the others frowned and looked ready to protest, he hurriedly added, "I mean a real secret. Like, an S-rank one. Telling it to someone is punishable by death."

There was silence. Deafening silence. Naruto observed the other rookies' reactions, and they all looked at him with new eyes. Apparently they hadn't realized that the reason people treated Naruto badly was that important. He wondered if they had thought that the cause for the hatred was a prank or something, but banished the notion quickly.

"So, to recap, something happened a long time ago, you were involved, but not the cause, everyone either hates or fears you because of that, and it's an s-ranked secret," Shikamaru deadpanned. He had figured the fear part from Naruto's statement about their parents being worried of their contact with Naruto. The blond nodded hesitantly, and looked at the others hopefully – probably wishing for the questioning to end, Shikamaru figured.

"Alright," he sighed, "we obviously can't make you tell us. Our best chance would be to ask the Hokage, but it's highly unlikely that he'd share the secret with us."

The others looked ready to protest, but finally decided that he was right. They weren't satisfied, however; far from it. They were the curious sort, and Naruto was their friend. It didn't sit right with them that something huge was being kept from them.

"The reason doesn't matter," Sasuke stated after a moment of silence. Naruto looked at him questioningly, but Sasuke ignored his gaze and stared at the other rookies one by one. They seemed to get whatever it was that he was saying with that heavy glare, and when Naruto opened his mouth to ask about it, Kiba spoke up.

"Yeah. He's our friend, and we'll stand by him. We won't let anyone hurt him anymore, and we'll do something about the glares and whispers and stuff, too," he said confidently. Naruto felt suddenly incredibly overwhelmed with gratitude and happiness, and couldn't help but smile widely at them all. He knew it was unlikely that they would actually manage to do anything about the treatment he received, but it was the thought that counted.

"Alright. First we should question our parents, and then talk to our teachers and see if they'd help," Shikamaru spoke up. The others nodded, and suddenly the room wasn't filled with worry or agitation or curiosity, but with excitement and camaradie. A secret plan and a mission, after all, brought people – especially children – together.

Naruto's wide smile got lost in a yawn, and then the attention was on him again. He suddenly realized that they actually, really, truly were concerned over him and cared about him.

"We should go home for tonight. We can get together tomorrow to plan some more, and see how Naruto is doing," Ino suggested, and while there was a short, blushing glance at Sasuke, there was also a longer, worried look directed at the jinchuuriki who yawned again.

Naruto listened quietly when the others decided to meet up at Sasuke's house before meeting their teachers, and to go eat dinner together again. He watched them all leave and shouted a happy 'goodnight' back at them, and his smile didn't dim even when it was just him and Sasuke in the room.

"Thanks," he whispered with a grateful look at the Uchiha, who looked quite surprised.

"What for?" Sasuke questioned. It was his understanding that he specifically hadn't done anything exceptional that night.

"For letting me come here, and for not letting me go to my apartment tonight," Naruto replied, and the 'for letting them show that they care about me' was silent yet heard by both.

"Che, whatever, dope," Sasuke said, but there was a softer look in his eyes that Naruto had last seen during the bridge-incident. "I'll sleep on the couch," Sasuke continued then and stood up. They exchanged quiet goodnights before Sasuke took out a pair or pyjamas and exited the room.

oooooooooooooooooooo

It wasn't a well-known fact that Naruto was protective of his friends, and it wouldn't be until Pein's attack and the subsequent deaths of most of those friends.

It soon was, however, a well-known fact that Naruto's friends were incredibly protective of him.

A/N: Please leave a review on your way out, I'd love to know what you think!