"I'm sorry, her injuries are far too severe...I estimate she has an hour left. Maybe two if she fights."

This can't be right...this can't be happening. It wasn't supposed to be like this! We were all supposed to get out of this alive!

Naruto looked down at the broken body of Hinata Hyuga and nearly burst into tears as he looked down at the scars and bruises that littered her body. He could hear the nine-tails laughing at his despair from deep inside his mind.

He ignored the laughing and instead turned to look at Shizune and Tsunade who were standing by her bedside. "Come on! There has to be something that you can do! Your the legendary medical nin. The hokage! You have to be able to do something!"

Tsunade shook her head as the tears continued to fall from her face. "If we had gotten to her earlier we might have been able to save her. But Naruto...I'm sorry. I know how much Hinata meant to you. How close the two of you got after the war. If you want...I can let you say goodbye in private but you need to realize that she's not going to make it."

Naruto nodded as the tears continued to roll down his face. Even if he had wanted to get rid of the tears there was no way that he could stop them now. "Did you at least catch the person who did this?" He sobbed.

Tsunade's eyes flashed as she shook her head. "It looks like he took his own life when he realized that there was no way out. I'm sorry Naruto, if we had taken him alive you know that I would have let you have first crack at him."

Naruto didn't respond as he continued to look down at the broken body of his former friend. He had sometimes wondered what would have happened if they had become more than close friends. She had saved his life during Pain's attack on the village but he had never had the opportunity to talk to her. He should have made the time but...to be honest he had no excuse for what he had done. He should have made the time to talk to her, to think about the feelings he had begun to develop for her. At first he hadn't known what the feeling was until he had talked with Kakashi.

The feeling that he was feeling for her was love.

He hadn't known at first and it had taken quite a bit of soul searching on his part. But after many months of thinking and getting helpful advice from his friends he had finally figured it out.

Only to have Hinata be attacked a few days later, by a rouge cloud ninja who had managed to attack her while she had been sleeping. It was a coward's attack and the cloud ninja had taken his life when faced with the prospect of fighting off the enraged Neji hyuga who had arrived only a moment later. Naruto looked up at the ceiling and continued to let the tears flow down his face.

It's not fair...he thought angrily. Hinata saved me when it looked like Pain had me and this had to happen to her!

The nine-tails that had been oddly quiet for a few moments laughed insanely. The Nine-tails had seemingly lost it's mind after Naruto had managed to separate the fox from it's chakra and at times was quiet but other times it would laugh for hours on end. Naruto sighed.

Will you shut up?

The fox laughed again and for the first time in quite awhile it seemed to lose it's insanity for a moment as it spoke. No...I don't think I will. It's a shame really...you have access to all my chakra and yet you have no idea of how to use it! With my vast amounts of chakra anything is possible!

Naruto stopped short for a moment as the fox began to laugh again as it's sanity vanished once again. He silently cursed the fox. If only the thing hadn't seemingly gone nuts he could have asked it for more information.

He thought for a moment as a sudden idea came to him. Before it had gone insane, the fox had at times been able to access certain memories. Wouldn't it be possible for him to do the same now that he had drained it's chakra?

He let himself go into his mind, where the fox was chained to the floor. It began to laugh again at the sight of him but did nothing else except struggle against the chains that were holding it. Naruto approached it. He knew that the fox would hate him even more once this was done but he didn't care. It no longer had access to the majority of it's chakra thanks to him and it already hated him.

He stood still for a moment as he reached deep into the fox's mind and was momentarily surprised by how much the fox was resisting him. He pushed himself through the fox's mind with more force than before, witnessing some of the memories that the fox still had. He witnessed atrocities that the fox had committed against villages that he had never even heard of, and most likely would never see as he witnessed their destruction, he saw brave heroes standing up against the demonic creature and falling against it's considerable power.

This thing has been around a lot longer than I thought...Naruto couldn't help but think as he continued to go through the memories. The deeper into it's memories that he went the harder he was finding it to go forward. The fox was resisting his attempts to discover it's secrets.

Come on...just a little bit more. Naruto thought desperately as he continued to search through it's memories. He could barely keep his hold on the fox's mind with the amount of force it was now throwing at him.

He finally saw what he was searching for...it looked almost like a metal box that was jeweled with precious stones and crystals. He smiled and attempted to reach it only to feel something pulling his arm back. The fox was now fighting with all it's remaining strength to keep him away from it's secrets. Naruto struggled forward with all of his remaining strength and finally managed to grab the box with his hand. He laughed in excitement as he opened the box and he stopped as he heard the sound of a roar echoing all around him.

This information...it's exactly what I need! He thought as he quickly began to withdraw from the fox's memories. The fox was growling and roaring insanely as Naruto finally managed to withdraw from it's memories. He smiled a dark smile at the fox. "Thanks for the information," was all he said as he left the confines of his mind.

Rest assured boy...this will not be forgotten! The fox roared at him as Naruto left it alone to it's insanity.

Naruto's eyes opened once again as he found himself leaning over a chair. He must have fallen over while he had been struggling with the fox. He looked down at Hinata's body and smiled gently as he reach for her hand, oblivious to the fact that Tsunade was watching from the doorway. "It's okay Hinata-chan..." He said quietly. "I think I found a way to bring you back."

Tsunade quietly stepped into the room. She didn't make a sound as she gently laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'm sorry Naruto...but there's nothing that can be done anymore."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, the smile having vanished off his face at Tsunade's words. "I...just found a way to help her! What do you mean there's nothing that can be done?"

Tsunade sighed heavily. "You were out for nearly a day Naruto. We couldn't figure out what had happened to you, After around an hour I figured out what happened and told the others that you were to be left alone."

Tsunade stared at him. "You risked an encounter with the fox didn't you? You thought that it might have information that could help Hinata."

Naruto looked down and nodded slowly. "Yeah I did...and I actually managed to find something that could help her." He looked down at the body and noticed that many of the bruises and scratches were gone. A tube was feeding some sort of liquid into her body.

Naruto slowly turned and looked at Tsunade.

"What happened while I was out?"