I do not own Naruto Shippuden.

The Hidden Hero of the Leaf

Naruto rested his head against a tree; he was so tired of walking, so tired physically and mentally.

I thought I could make it back to the village..

He felt his eyes roll to the back of his head, and he felt himself falling. Too exhausted to catch himself, he expected to hit the ground. Too feel more pain. But then, something was holding him up. Kakashi Sensei.

"Just lean on me"

Naruto didn't protest, thankful for the assistance. He was so tired, that he could only slightly keep his eyes open, to stay conscious.

Kakashi did not try and bring Naruto out of his daze, nor try and ask him if he was alright. Sakura would take care of that. Wouldn't want the only casualty to be the one that saved everyone. Plus, Kakashi had grown really fond of the kid. He couldn't help it. Nobody could. Looking back at Naruto, Kakashi wondered what he was thinking. He didn't seem to be overjoyed despite the fact that he just beat Pain. Odd. Maybe he should check on Naruto.

"Naruto, are you alright?"

Naruto struggled to stay conscious, but it was getting harder to breathe, and harder to think. His only focus was his next breath, so when Kakashi asked him a question, he didn't hear it. A pain was growing, a new pain, in his chest. And then, he felt himself coughing and felt himself being placed on his back on the ground. He saw Kakashi's face over his own, and saw his worried expression. He wanted to tell him that he was alright, like he almost always was, but he couldn't get the breath to do so. He only had enough to form two words.

"Can't.. Breathe".

Understanding swept across Kakashi's face as he swept Naruto up to carry him to Sakura.

Kakashi was panicking… a little. Okay, a lot. But the kid really didn't look good and was starting to have a bluish tint to his face, supporting the fact that he wasn't getting enough oxygen. Naruto couldn't die, he already sacrificed so much. And he hasn't even had a chance to really live yet. To love, and have family.

Then Kakashi's thoughts came to a halt as he saw a pink haired girl in the distance. Rushing over with the young blonde in his arms he laid Naruto before her, noticing the panicked look on her face.

Sakura took in the state of her best friend. He was definitely in a lot of pain, clutching his chest and having a grimace on his face that she'd always hated. Instantly seeing the problem, she began to fix his damaged heart, her hands glowing the familiar green. As she began healing him, his head shifted and his eyes met hers. His beautiful blue eyes.

"Sakura, are you okay"?

"Eh, you gotta be kidding me, everyones fine but you of course!"

"Okay, good".

His eyes began closing once again, but Sakura, annoyed with the boy grabbed his face and said,

"That's not good! You can turn your hero- mode off now! Everything's over!"

"It's far from over, Sakura."

Still annoyed but deciding to move on and drop the subject, Sakura began exploring Naruto's other injures. And there were a lot of them. She wished Tsunade could be there with her, but she was still in a coma from trying to protect the villagers.

"Is he going to be alright?" Kakashi asked.

His answer was received when Naruto began coughing up blood, just like earlier in the forest.

"He has a lot of internal injures" replied Sakura.

Sakura kept exploring possible other injures, trailing her hands over his skin. When she reached his abdomen, she heard a hiss from Naruto. All of his ribs were either cracked or broken. With an injury like that, one of the ribs must have punctured something internally.

"Kakashi, help me get Naruto to the hospital, I'm going to need help on this".

Grabbing Naruto once again, Kakashi carried Naruto to the makeshift hospital that happened to only be a tent. As Kakashi stepped into the tent, many things happened at once. Sakura began screaming orders, getting everything she would need to help Naruto. Then she guided Kakashi to a mat with blankets on the floor, a place she wanted him to put Naruto. As soon as the blonde was laying down she was pushing him out the door screaming something along the lines of the tent already being way too small.

I don't want to leave, I want to stay with the kid. Kakashi thought.

But it didn't matter, he only had one more chance to look back at the student he cared about before he was outside the tent, in the way of nurses entering and exiting the tent to get much needed supplies for Naruto.

All Naruto could think about was the pain, immense pain coming from… everywhere. The doctors were frantic blurs to his eyes, bringing this and that to the pink haired girl above him. He knew her, but couldn't form his thoughts around her name. Couldn't concentrate. He felt himself sputtering, finally realizing that he must be coughing up blood. And that's the only logical thought he managed before black crept into his vision, consuming it until he couldn't see anymore. And shortly after, he was unconscious, with Sakura screaming at him to open his eyes and keep his heart going.

Moping, Kakashi sat down on one side of the tent out of the way, but close enough that he could hear what was happening in the tent. And it didn't sound good. There was a lot of screaming… from Naruto. And Sakura didn't seem as calm as she usually was when healing someone.

Of course she isn't, Kakashi reasoned, Naruto is her best friend. And maybe even more than that. She loves him, I just haven't figured out yet if she's IN love with him.

While Kakashi was thinking of his two students that would make a fine couple, another girl approached that he certainly knew was in love with Naruto.

"Hello, Hinata" Kakashi sighed.

"Is that Naruto in there? Is he going to be okay?" Hinata said while blushing.

"I don't know. But Sakura's working on him. So I'm sure he's going to be fine".

Obviously embarrassed, Hinata sat down feeling very exposed. Everyone knew her "secret" now. They knew that she loved Naruto. She'd practically screamed it to the world when she fought Pain.

Kakashi chuckled at what Hinata thought was a secret, it's been obvious for years how much Naruto meant to her.

The two sat there in silence, listening to the occurrences in the tent. Hoping that they would get to see the boy that everyone had come to love smile again. Do something stupid again, and make impossible promises that he somehow managed to keep. They thought they heard Naruto's heart stop at least once, but they weren't positive, and the wait killed them.

As they waited, several more people joined them. Until, it seemed like the whole village was out there, worrying for their hero. Sai, Kiba, Neji and Shikamaru were all there, especially worried for their friend.

It was hours later before a tired, tear filled Sakura came out to greet everyone. She smiled a little, proclaiming, "He's going to be fine. Just needs a lot of rest."

The village was in an uproar, everyone cheering and happy. Grateful that their young hero was alright. All his friends smiled thinking to themselves that there was no way Naruto was going to die that way anyways, they were never "worried". Naruto was going to die with a much bigger bang, and with a whole lot bigger person than this Pain guy.

It was Kakashi, Hinata and Shikamaru that got to go see Naruto first. Going inside the tent they all held their breath. And there he was, looking pretty sad. He was bandaged up, laying on the ground with a machine plugged into him that was emitting a soft beep. Music to their ears, because if it weren't for that sound, the three of them would have thought Naruto was dead.

Approaching him, Kakashi was surprised when Naruto's eyes opened slightly to acknowledge him. The kid never took naps, that's for sure.

"Hey Naruto!" Shikamaru exclaimed while Kakashi and Hinata sat close to Naruto's lying form.

"Hey guys" Naruto said tiredly.

The three of them smiled, happy to see that their friend was in fact okay, and they settled to have a short conversation with him, that was cut shorter of course by Sakura reminding them that Naruto needed rest.

The Hero of the leaf, Naruto, a person that nobody ever thought would amount to something as saving an entire village, was important… but village matters had to go on still. A war was starting, and every village needed to come together. To form an alliance that has never been done before. And because of the recent events, the conference to discuss this matter was moved from the original location to the Leaf Village, where the new Hokage (Danzo) didn't want to leave because of the villages' current conditions. One person was extremely happy about this. And it was Gaara.

Gaara couldn't wait to arrive in the Leaf Village, depite the fact that the last time he'd been there was when he tried to destroy the village. At the chunin exams.

But now the Leaf and Sand had a natural alliance. One formed soon after this event, and had little strain like most village alliances.

Gaara honestly didn't really care about the village a whole lot right now. In fact, he just wanted to see Naruto. He'd heard of the recent events, and was extremely worried for his friend. Naruto had been the one to change him. To make him a better person that actually cared for people. And he wanted to repay Naruto in every way he could. Because he kept owing the blonde. Naruto even fought with the Akatsuki to get him back.

Arriving at the village, the first thing he wanted to do was look for his friend. Seeing Shikamuru, Gaara left his siblings at the gate to find out where he needed to go.

Naruto was so bored. He hated hospitals. Even when it was a tent. Normally he would just leave, or "escape" as some people put it, but he was still in pain and every movement caused his head to spin. Closing his eyes, he decided to give in to Sakura's demands and take a nap. Time would go faster that way anyways.

The next time he opened his eyes was when he heard moment and two people sitting down near him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you".

Turning his head, he was met with Gaara and Shikamaru.

Naruto smiled. He wasn't so bored anymore.

Gaara looked Naruto over, he seemed pretty bad. But at least he'd live, with no permanent injuries of course… courtesy of the nine tailed fox. Sitting down, he was surprised when Naruto immediately began to stir.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you" Gaara apologized.

Shikamaru, realizing that he was interrupting a reunion of two friends, left without a word.

"It's alright, I've been sleeping way too much lately. Thanks to Sakura". Naruto lied.

"I'm sure you're pretty bored, but staying here is necessary".

"Not really. I'm just choosing to be cooperative"

Gaara looked at him skeptically, eyeing the way Naruto winced everytime he moved.

"What are you doing here anyways, Gaara. Shouldn't you be in the Sand?"

"I'm here for a Kage meeting conference. To talk about an alliance of all Nations."

Naruto's eyes widened at this information. Nobody had been updating him on village matters.

"Look Naruto, I just want you to know that I'm be one of the Kages against using you as a weapon, or making you sacrifice yourself to save everyone elses selfish ass".

Naruto didn't seem to like this news, he didn't mind being a weapon. It meant being on the front lines, and not letting his friends die for him.

"Maybe I should come to the meeting, to support myself".

"That… obviously isn't possible. You look awful."

"Well, sorry I'm not pretty but I think that all the Kages will get over it" Naruto said. Gaara should have kept the information to himself.

Naruto tried to stand, but slumped when he couldn't even sit up on his elbows without moaning.

"No. Naruto, you're staying here! You can't even sit up! And I've got to go to this meeting. So stay here, and I'll be back when it's over to tell you what happened."

Gaara left, and a frustrated Naruto, who didn't want to go into hiding to escape the Akatsuki, clutched and unclutched his fists to prepare himself mentally. He had to go to this meeting.

"You can't use the Jinjuriki as weapons! They're too hard to control. And then were basically handing them over to the Akatsuki!" Gaara exclaimed.

"Well, look who's an expert. A child! You have no idea what the big picture is. And that's the survival for the villages. Not two people!" The Mizukage countered.

"That's my brother you're talking about!" the Raikage pointed out angrily.

"They're important too! We should hide them and let them train to control their tailed-"

Gaara was cut off when the door slammed open and Naruto, not looking so good, stumbled into the room. Obviously out of his mind from fever or something, Naruto had only a moment to feel triumphant before he started to collapse.

But Gaara was there to catch him, with his sand.

"Naruto, I told you not to come!"

"Had to, want to help-" was Naruto's faint reply.

Gaara approached Naruto, and grabbing him, proceeded to support him cause he could barely stand.

Naruto just doesn't know when to shut off his incredible determination.

"Let's get you back to the hospital".

Naruto looked like he was going to protest, but then seemed to realize that even if he was at the meeting, his opinions wouldn't matter. He wasn't a Kage…. Yet.

So the two boys made the walk slowly back to the tent. Gaara watched as Naruto winced and fought to stay conscious, and was grateful when he was finally able to place Naruto back on the mat and cover him with blankets. Placing his hands on Naruto's forehead, he confirmed the fact that Naruto did indeed have a fever, and decided the blonde shouldn't be alone for the night.

Settling himself on the ground not far from the tents entrance, Gaara began to realize... if there was anyone who could fight this war, it was Naruto.

The little boy who used to play pranks and took nothing seriously, had become a young man willing to sacrifice anything for the village that had condemned him a demon. Now they saw him for what he truly was: a hero. The hidden hero of the Leaf had saved the Hidden Leaf Village.