Hey everyone! Welcome to my first Fanficiton! I don't have much experience writing, so I'm sorry if the quality isn't that good. Let me know any feedback you might have, what you like about it and what you dislike!.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

The kunai shone as it reflected the sunlight. The dark metal ring was cold against Naruto's finger as he let it dangle, slowly turning it here and there. With a flick of the wrist, he spun it a bit, reminding him of when he'd spin his coat hangers around his finger as a kid before he started the academy. The dark metal blurred into a disk of grey around Naruto's hand, it's right corner catching a flash of light every time it came around. Naruto laid back in the comfy grass, the blue sky laid out before him. The wind was gentle, constantly blowing.

"Quite the beautiful day" He thought to himself. "Especially after raining for the passed week". Naruto's gaze wandered to his teammate. Sasuke was still in the hospital, meaning it was just him and Sakura waiting for their sensei today. But with weather like this, Naruto wasn't too mad about waiting. Just a little annoyed.

The torches whizzed passed him like fireflies. He was aware of his panting breath, and his footsteps clapping against the stone floor. He was aware of the blood oozing down his brow, his blood, and some pooling on his neck, not his blood. He was aware of his sensei's ragged breath, hot against the back of his head as Naruto carried him. He was aware that he was in shock. He was aware of the people chasing him. But everything else simply faded.

"You're late, sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. The kunai he was spinning came around and nicked his wrist, and he cried in indignation, waving his hand around, the grass flowing back and forth as his arm blurred passed it.

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sakura shouted. "You had to have known that was going to happen!"

"Hey, hey! How am I supposed to know! I can't predict the future!" Naruto shot back. He sat down in the grass, arms crossed, a few grasshoppers jumping up around him.

"Guys..." Kakashi said.

Naruto stumbled, his sensei spilling off his back and onto the stone floor. He scrambled on his feet, dust sticking to his cuts and on the blood that streaked his face. He hoisted up Kakashi onto his shoulder. His legs ached. His arms ached. His eyes were hot. In the back of his mind, the shinobi code played over and over again. A ninja must never show their tears. A ninja must never show their tears. A ninja...

"Naruto..." His sensei breathed.

The tears came easy.

Naruto and Sakura turned to their sensei. The man was stiff, sharp, almost as though he were expecting an attack. For the first time outside combat, his book was away. He knelt down, motioning his students forward. Naruto took a tentative step, but Sakura remained still.

"Sensei?" She asked. "What's wrong?"

A sebon needle nicked his ear, and implanted into the wall as he rounded a corner. He crossed his fingers, a hastily made group of Kage Bunshin ready to meet his attackers. Naruto panted, kicking up dust and dirt as he ran. His vision was growing spotty. His brain felt like hot soup in his skull, as his temples throbbed at him, like a hammer hitting his skull again, and again, and again.

"Danz- ...Hokage-sama has decided to continue the war with Oto... we'll be drafted in the invasion of their village. We're expected to be ready to deploy tomorrow..."

"We're invading?" Naruto asked. Kakashi solemnly nodded his head.

"It... is possible you will be injured...".

A kunai found it's way through Naruto's leg, and he went tumbling across the floor, like a stone bouncing across a pond.

"What about Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Sasuke will stay in the hospital, but our team will be on the front lines, going through the tunnels of Oto. I've been assigned as the field general for the charge" Kakashi said. "I don't know what to expect when we get to Oto, but regardless, I need you two to stay close to me when were down there. Okay?"

Naruto crawled closer and closer to Kakashi. The man laid there with half lidded eyes, chest heaving. His leg was bent at an odd angle, and he watched the ninja swarming down the hallway behind them. Kakashi brought up his hands with such a strain on his face that one would think he had a metric ton of iron hanging on each wrist. Slowly, he started to weave hand signs.

"I know your scared," Kakashi said "but just remember what I said to you in the wave: I will not allow my comrades to die. Even if I'm on my deathbed...

With a grunt of effort, Kakashi released the jutsu. The ground shook for a moment as the hallway behind them collapsed with the sound of an avalanche coming down on their pursuers. Naruto's ears rang from just how loud it was. He put an arm up in front of his face as dust swarmed towards them. The collapsing stones stopped short of the pair of leaf ninja, and Naruto though he heard muffled screaming from under the piles of rubble, before all fell silent.

"I'll protect you"

"No matter what".

The back room was dark and stuffy, dust lining the floor. Naruto dragged his sensei in, hastily kicking the door closed behind him. He gazed back and forth, finding an operating table. He swept off a few beakers, which shattered across the floor, and laid Kakashi down. His sensei had a large gash traveling through his mask and down his chin. His leg was broken, the jagged white bone sticking out of his thigh like a shard of glass. He was smothered in dirt and sweat, and his eyes were closed.

He fell unconscious after using that jutsu. And he stopped breathing about a minute ago.

Naruto pushed his fingers into his sensei's neck, the dry cloth of his mask itchy against his skin. He waited a moment, until he felt a faint, but still present drumbeat of a pulse. Relief flooded him, but he needed to work quick. He took a look around the empty room, not really knowing what he was looking for, before swinging back to his sensei, finding himself burdened with two tasks at once.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Naruto crossed his fingers, a clone popping into existence. He quickly patted himself, his hand finding the soft cloth of the bandages on his leg. He plucked them off, throwing them to his clone, who began to wrap it taught above the leg wound and work his way down. Naruto reached for his sensei's mask, noting the irony of the situation in the back of his mind. He had always wanted to see his sensei's face, but now he found that he'd trade anything to not have to be in this situation.

He pulled it off, took a deep breath, plugged his sensei's nose, and gave him mouth to mouth. The anxious ache of doubt started to well up in him. He hadn't paid attention in the academy, and didn't know how long to keep this going, or if he was really doing anything in the first place. Wasn't the air that he breathed out carbon dioxide? Would that kill him? He'd seen this all the time in movies, but..

Naruto shoved his doubts back. They wouldn't teach this in the academy if if actually killed someone. Coming back up, Naruto took another breath, and breathed into his sensei again. How was he supposed to get him to breathe out? A voice in the back of his mind told him that all he was doing was prolonging his sensei's suffering. If he couldn't breath on his own, then...

Naruto felt a bit of air come up out of his sensei's throat. He backed off, looking down at the man, and put a finger under his nose, waiting. He idly noticed that his clone finished the bandage job, and now had his hand on the man's chest, pushing chakra into his depleted system. Naruto continued waiting, and then took another breath, ready to start up again, before he felt the faint pressure of air coming out his sensei's nose.

Naruto sighed in relief, sitting back onto a stool near the operating table. He looked at Kakashi's chest, which visibly rose and fell. The blonde ninja kept his gaze fixed on his sensei, as though the man would die if he looked away. With nothing immediately pressing him, he let himself actually think for a moment. He didn't know where in the world he possibly was. All the twists and turns he took were a jumbled mess in his brain.

Naruto felt something wet against his pant leg, and looked down. Without the adrenaline pumping through him, he was immediately hit by a wave of searing pain as his body took notice of the wound where the kunai has passed through his calf. He fought back tears of stinging pain, and lifted his leg up onto the stool, snapping at his clone for the bandages, which he quickly tossed.

Naruto gently lifted his pant leg, and began to wrap the wound. He looked at his sensei. The man's face was angular, and blemishless, save a small mole on his chin. He didn't want to put his mask back on, partially because he was afraid it would somehow, in some way, impair his breathing again, and partially because he wanted to tease his sensei about seeing his face if he woke up.

"When" Naruto reminded himself, "When he'll wake up".

Naruto let his leg back down, which hit the concrete floor with a soft tap. He looked over to the door, deciding he should probably lock it at some point if he heard ninja coming by this way. Standing, he limped to the door, wondering how in the world he was supposed to get out of here. As the clone popped out of existence, Naruto locked the door, slumped down on the wall, and closed his eyes, thinking, having his first moment of peace in the last couple of hours. With peace came thoughts.

Thoughts of the disaster that happened an hour ago.

Streaks of fire blurred overhead against the night sky as the leaf ninja's katon jutsu fired towards enemy lines. Naruto panted, charging forward with his teammates at his side. The roar of two titanic summons, Manda and Gamabunta, clashing against each other in the distance slammed into Naruto's ears like a point-blank explosion. Even louder was the scream of the leaf ninja's charge as they stampeded towards the village.

"Incoming!" a ninja shouted.

Naruto looked up. Black dots in the distance, like a swarm of gnats, came over the horizon, slowly eclipsing the stars and moon. Kakashi slammed to a halt, grabbing Naruto and Sakura, and immediately weaved hand signs. A slab of dark brown earth, soil toppling off it in clumps, slammed out of the ground at an angle, shielding them. Kakashi jumped under the wall with his students under his arms. Naruto wormed around, wondering what was happening. He looked out just in time for hundreds of sebon to come down on them. He was reminded of the time Haku had used sebon on them. He thought he'd be prepared for what he saw.

He wasn't.

Naruto looked to his left, as an unprepared ninja met the hail of metal. All of his momentum was stopped dead by the incoming volley. The man had a shocked expression on his face as blurs of grey passed through him. In a single second, the ninja's pale skin was slowly ripped back. A cluster of sebon sped straight through his leg, literally cutting it off, blood spurting out his artery like a child's water gun. As he fell, all that was left was chunks of muscle and organs hanging from his porcupined skeleton. Behind him was red mist, and a long streak of blood on the ground, like a shadow cast by a streetlamp.

Naruto looked out at the literal metal storm around them, his arms above his head just in case the wall gave way. Sebon needles slammed into the ground around them like rain. He wasn't simply exaggerating. It was like God had taken a storm, and exchanged every drop of water for a sebon needle. They thudded into the earth over and over with the sound of a stampede of animals made of metal, all in full sprint.

"Why are they wasting this many needles?" Sakura shouted over the roar.

"Shock tactics!" Kakashi shouted back, "They're trying to scare us off. This just shows they know they can't win!". If they were trying to scare Naruto off, they were doing quite a good job at it.

"How do I fight this?" Naruto thought "How does anyone fight this? We need to run! We need-" Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder, firmly gripping.

"Get ready, you two! Naruto! Do you remember the Jutsu combination they told us about back at camp!" Kakashi shouted. Naruto nodded. The rain of metal slowed to a drizzle, and then a stop. Naruto looked out, seeing sebon needles sticking from the ground like long blades of grass. They stuck into trees, into rocks, into everything. Naruto saw holes in the leaves where needles passed through. The tree's blocked some of the projectiles, creating a clear section of grass behind them that looked almost like a shadow. Naruto was yanked by his collar as Kakashi pulled them both out, weaving hand signs.

"All leaf nin!" Kakashi said, his fingers to his throat, projecting his voice with chakra like a loudspeaker, "Get behind me!". A flurry of ninja came out from under rocks and behind trees, all dashing behind their leader. Naruto looked around. Kakashi looked back at him a Sakura, eyes sharp.

"Chakra! Now!" Kakashi shouted. Naruto stood for a moment, before quickly placing a hand on Kakashi's back, and slowly pushing in his chakra.

"All of it, Naruto!" Naruto obeyed, releasing the dam and letting his energy flood the man in front of him. Kakashi had wisps of blue swirling around him as he brought his hands to his lips. The sebon in the ground around them reflected the glow of his chakra, shadows sprouting behind them. Over the horizon, a second volley was coming their way. Naruto looked to his sensei, and back to the volley, as they all stood there.

"Sensei?" Naruto said.

The sebon needles were closing in. Naruto felt panic rising in his body. He made to duck behind the mud wall again, before realizing that he was now out of time. Everything slowed down as he saw the needles closing in, meters from him and his team. He threw his free arm over his head in one final attempt to protect himself, his mind replaying the image of that man getting shredded in the hail of metal over and over, only it was his face on that body now, and it was his eyes going dull as his flesh was ripped off the bone.

Naruto clenched his eyes, just in time to hear an explosion of wind, like a hurricane, erupt from his sensei. All of the sebon, as well as all of the grass and chunks of dirt were ripped from the ground, sent back at the enemies. Naruto actually had to dig in his heels, and hold onto his sensei with the hand that pumped chakra into him. Kakashi let his hand off his lips, now simply breathing out with everything he had, air ripping out from his mouth like fire from a dragon.

Naruto looked, wind whipping at his hair and clothes as the white gale blasted in front of him. The wind roared and roared. The only sound Naruto had to compare it to was the sound of waterfall he'd seen at the valley of the end when he was passing into the land of Grass on the way here. Naruto watched as trees were slowly bent backwards, all of their leaves stripped, before the smaller ones were uprooted and sent into the air. Leaf ninja all landed near Naruto, knelt down holding the tiger seal. Their chests puffed up, and they all looked to Kakashi.

"Were ready on your command, general!" one of them shouted. Kakashi's eyes darted to Naruto, and he nodded his head at him. Naruto put a finger to his throat, and pushed a bit of chakra into his vocal chords.

"Release, now!" Naruto shouted, his voice projecting above the hurricane in front of them. Naruto was slightly worried none of them would listen to him, but in all the chaos, it seemed as though that wasn't a problem. All the ninja shouted their different Katon jutsu, and torrents of fire burst from their lips, and into the wind.

Hell.

That was the only thing Naruto could use to describe the inferno that erupted in front of him. A storm of flames washed down the forest in front of them, like a titanic tsunami crashing over the shore and into the land. Naruto brought his orange jacket up over himself, coating his skin in chakra like he was told to do. In the back of his mind, he was surprised at how fast he began sweating, feeling it pouring down his body, wetting his shirt.

He closed his eyes. The flames were too bright to look at directly. He turned his head, putting an arm over his eyes. Even still, the brightness of the flames actually made it through his arm. It was like he was teleported right next to the sun. The heat, the light, it all was too much to bear. Naruto thought for a moment "I'm going to die. This jutsu is too hot, too bright. It's gonna kill me!".

But just as soon as it started, it stopped. Naruto opened his eyes. His sensei dropped to his knees, violently coughing. Naruto let go of his shoulder, his knuckles cramped, realizing just how drained he was. He felt like he'd just summoned Gamabunta three times over. Naruto looked up, seeing the results of what happened.

The earth was scorched black. All of the trees were now charred sticks and skeletons, bent backwards or toppled over, a few still burning in spots here and there, smoke rising from their corpses. There was no more foliage, no more grass, no more leaves. Naruto could actually see the enemy front lines in the distance, making out the figures of men and women running around, burning to death, like little orange fireflies. It was like someone had covered the entire square mile of forest in front of them with explosive notes, and set them all off at once.

Naruto turned around just in time to see the stampede of leaf ninja charging passed them. Naruto hoisted up Kakashi, who got his feet under him, and started rushing the enemy lines. Naruto turned and looked to Sakura, who stood still, eyes wide.

"Sakura, come on!" He yelled. She blinked, looking at him, before looking around, and following Naruto and her sensei into the charge, panting, exhausted. She wondered if she was going to get captured, or even worse, die. She imagined her mother, answering the door to a grim faced man ninja, his headband off, clasped in his hands in front of him. She would know in that moment, and would break down crying. Crying for a wandering daughter that never came home.

Sakura did not know how close to the truth her imagination really was.

"Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes blinked open. He almost groaned, before stifling it, remembering his surroundings. He opened his eyes, the grey surgery room greeting him, dust suspended in the air, gently floating around. Had he fallen asleep? Cursing at himself a bit, he looked to his sensei. The man laid on the operating table, gingerly holding his leg, looking to his student who was slumped in the corner.

Naruto stood, before wincing a bit. He looked down at his leg, which was completely swollen, the wound where the kunai passed through pulsed at him, his skin a puffy shade of red. Naruto didn't like the look of that. Naruto limped towards his sensei, who sat up. He moved to speak, before Naruto put a finger to his lips.

"Oto?" Kakashi mouthed. Naruto nodded. Kakashi looked down, mouthed a few curses, and looked up at his student. He held up his hand, fingers covered in dried blood, and made a few scribbling motions. Naruto patted himself, before crossing his fingers as a pair of clones popped into existence, making Kakashi cringe a bit at the volume, and proceeded to henge into a notepad and pen.

"You passed out" Naruto wrote. "I dragged you to this back room. It doesn't look like anyone's been here". He slid the pad to Kakashi.

"How long?" Kakashi wrote back.

"I don't know. A few hours maybe."

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto looked a the notepad. He held the pen to the paper, his fingers shaking a bit. Kakashi's eyes held a bit of concern. "Naruto? Is she...?"

"I don't know. She got separated from us at the main entrance."

"Was she captured?"

"I don't know" Naruto almost felt guilty writing the words. He felt like a child giving an excuse to a father that he'd just failed.

"We'll find her. Remember what I told you"

"Can you walk?"

"No".

"Then I'll have to carry you out of here". Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment.

"I don't know if that's an option" Kakashi wrote in small, clean text. "Can you hear that?" Kakashi wrote. Naruto looked at him in confusion, before Kakashi put his hand up. They waited for a bit, before a distant, low rumble sounded off somewhere above them. A bit of dirt and dust shook from the ceiling. It was small, almost unbearable. Or perhaps, they were simply that far down.

"I'd wager a guess that that's the main entrance. The siege is still going on, meaning that our escape route is currently fortified by hundreds of enemy ninja".

"What are we gonna do?" Naruto wrote. Kakashi pursed his lips.

"Were going to have to hold here until Oto is routed. Right now, my leg is broken, my reserves are depleted, and neither of us know any medical jutsu strong enough to mend it right now. I'm out of action. Naruto..." Kakashi paused. "You're our only active ninja capable of carrying out any tasks needed for us to survive. Which means..."

Kakashi stopped. Naruto looked at him. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and wrote.

"You'll have to sneak around here to find what we need. Secret exits, food, medical supplies, and hopefully, Sakura. Right now..."

"You're our only chance at survival"

There's the prologue! Hope you all enjoyed. I plan on this being a short series, that I might make sequels to! It will be at around 100000-150000 words long, and typical chapters will be (after this one) 5-7 thousand words.

Let me know what you guys think of this! Like I said, this is my first story, so I don't have much experience with the site, so go easy on me!

See ya!