Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
This takes place somewhere in the middle of the most recent Sasuke retrieval thingie if you're confused.
Yesh. This is going to have Minato in it. After going crazy and reading a ton of Yondaime ficcys, I couldn't help but write one myself. Sorry to everybody waiting for me to update my other ficcy. X.x
Prologue
A blackened sky thundered overhead, signaling that it would rain soon. A blonde haired woman stood up from her tiring paperwork and turned around to look up at it. She glared apprehensively.
"Tsunade-sama?"
No reply.
"…Tsunade-sama…Naruto and the others…they will be alright, won't they?"
"…"
"A–ah…I mean, of course they'll be alright! Naruto's gotten much stronger, after all. I'm sure they'll be okay. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata are accompanying them and Naruto definitely isn't going to be taken over by Kyuubi with Kakashi and Yamato there. A–and Naruto has his Rasenshuriken now! It does greatly damage his arm, but he's only be forced to use it if the opponent were really reaaally strong! Well…the Akatsuki are really strong, but, but–…"
"…"
"…I'm not helping, am I?"
"…"
"Gomen…Tsunade-sama…"
"No, it's alright Shizune. I appreciate that you're trying to help. It's just that…"
"…Both of the previous retrieval missions had also ended badly, hadn't they…?
"…"
"AH! I'm so sorry!" She frantically bowed several times. "Please forgive me!"
"No, no. I'm just worrying too much." Tsunade forced a smile. "It seems you're worrying quite a bit as well, aren't you, Shizune?"
"Ah…ha ha…er…yes," she laughed weakly.
"…"
"…"
"He will come back safely," Tsunade asserted.
In an area of the forest outside of Konoha, all was peaceful and quiet. Birds and little rodents hopped around. One could even hear the sound of a creek if he or she listened carefully enough. And then pandemonium broke loose when someone unleashed an earsplitting roar.
"Rrrraaaaaaaarrrrgghhhh!!" screamed a yellow-headed boy angrily. "Rasengan!"
The attack appeared to have hit a black-haired man wearing the Akatsuki cloak– when he split into dozens of crows which flew away, only to assimilate into the man known as Uchiha Itachi once again.
Naruto whipped around in the air and landed, watching carefully for movements from the one who had been the cause of his best friend's betrayal. There were none. Narrowing his eyes, he fell into a crouch.
"You said you wanted to talk to me." Naruto paused to create a shadow clone and lunged, another Rasengan forming in his fingers. "So give me some straight answers goddamnit!" He thrust out his hand, aiming for Itachi's head. His face contorted all the more furiously when he suffered the same result as before. He had tested the Uchiha with the question of why he had chosen to destroy his clan, but he had merely replied, "to see how far I could go".
Complete bull. And the thought of this guy toying with him was something he would not entertain. But what the hell was he supposed to do!? True, the Rasengan was a devastating technique that would render many shinobi barely able to move, especially if it were the Odama Rasengan, let alone Rasenshuriken. But all the same, it was absolutely useless if it didn't hit. Naruto clenched his hands into fists. His chakra reserves were running low. He realized now that it was all because of his blind anger taking control of him. The very same that had taken over and hurt Ero-sennin and Sakura-chan… 'Dammit…'
He straightened up and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. This is exactly what this bastard wants me to do. I'm going to make a stupid mistake, and then I'll be totally screwed over. Naruto glared. His head was clearer than it was before. 'Wanting to talk to me? That was just bait to make me attack. I'm not going to fall for it again.'
"..."
Naruto defiantly stood his ground. No matter how resentful he became, he would not submit to it. I will not budge an inch until he attacks me. I don't know how I'm going to beat him yet, but I'll definitely think of something. I absolutely refuse to get captured here. I have to bring Sasuke ba–
His head jerked upwards when he heard Itachi begin to speak.
"…It seems you really don't want to listen. In that case…" He stepped forward, and in a flash, to Naruto's surprise, reappeared directly in front of him. His index finger rested on Naruto's forehead, under the hitai-ate.
"…Sleep."
With a resounding bang, Naruto flew backwards, landing several feet behind where he had previously stood, unconscious. Itachi sighed. And with his work done, he walked away, disappearing into the trees.
Bang!
Hatake Kakashi stiffened. He'd been hearing crashes from Naruto's direction for a while now. The ever so spirited "genin" had reported earlier that he had run into Itachi. He'd responded with orders to avoid detection if possible and to stay calm. 'Stay calm? Naruto?' He rubbed his temples for saying such a ridiculous thing. 'Naruto's not an idiot, but when it comes to Sasuke…'
He dashed forwards, cursing under his breath. He could only hope for now that Naruto was alright.
Five minutes later, Kakashi finally found Naruto with Sakura sitting on her knees next to him, her hands emitting a green glow…
Back in Konoha, Jiraiya slammed open the doors to the Hokage's office.
"He's back."
"What!?"
"He's back," Jiraiya repeated.
"…And?"
"…"
He closed his eyes and look away guiltily.
Tsunade rushed out of her office, down the stairs, and out into the streets, her Godaime Hokage status be damned. She broke into a run, fueled by adrenaline and fear. She passed the training grounds, Konoha Academy, Ichiraku Ramen. Her head raced hysterically with thoughts of Naruto. Morbid, bloody thoughts that had plagued her mind long before her little talk with Shizune. She didn't ever, ever want what had happened to Dan and Nawaki to happen again. Ever. She had clutched Dan's cold, dead corpse, the blood staining her hands. And she'd looked at them in disbelief. Those were her hands. Her hands with Dan's blood on them. Dan. The one she had failed to save. Failed. FAILED.
After pushing through what had seemed to be an endlessly large crowd of people, she finally reached the Konoha gates. The crowd slowly parted to let her through and she noticed a few of Naruto's friends standing by a stretcher looking fearfully at it. And Naruto was in that stretcher. Tsunade gave a sigh of relief to see there was no blood. There was, however, a small scratch on his forehead. Not good.
Returning her expression to one fit for a shinobi on duty, she ordered to her apprentice, "Sakura! Report!"
Sakura shifted uncomfortably.
"Naruto…fought with…Itachi. Right before I found him there was a loud bang. He has no serious injuries. He's used up quite a bit of his chakra. We're hoping he just fainted from exhaustion, but the scratch on his forehead is worrying me. His hitai-ate was off and the scratch was actually a lot larger before, but the Kyuubi chakra healed it up quickly. It still wasn't that big and there was no damage to the brain as far as I could see, but there's a slight disturbance in his chakra flow near the brain. I used kai just in case he was affected by a genjutsu, but nothing happened."
"Did Naruto grow any Kyuubi tails?"
"No, shishou."
"…I see."
"Go–gomenasai…shishou…"
Tsunade sighed. "No. It's not your fault. This is Uchiha Itachi we're talking about. Who knows what he did…" 'And I'd like to go out right now and strangle him with my bare hands,' she added to herself bitterly.
"Alright. Now, you two." She pointed to Kakashi and Yamato. "Move him here please. Ah. Yes, thank you."
Bending over, she carefully lifted his hair from his forehead. The scratch had disappeared completely. "Now…let's see here…yes, his chakra flow is slightly irregular. But it's not a genjutsu…it's more like– Oh no."
"What? What's wrong with him?"
"There are very faint traces of a chemical in his head…and it's drawing all of his chakra to the brain in the area that deals with sensory receptors."
"But then…what's going to happen to Naruto?"
"I'm not sure what exactly will happen, but if the chemical isn't removed immediately, the effects will be permanent. I have to get to work on him right now! Kakashi! Yamato! Bring him to the operating room as quickly as you possibly can. Sai, boil some water! Sakura! You already know what I need. Now, hurry!"
A few hours later, the door opened, and Tsunade stepped out., under the watch of a dozen pairs of eyes. After the tiring operation, she was thanked for her hard work by being bombarded with questions.
"Tsunade-sama!"
"Is he…"
"What happened!?"
"Is Naruto okay?"
"Is he going to die?"
"He can't be!"
"SILENCE!" Tsunade roared. "…Thank you. I got rid of the substance in his brain, but like I said before, the effects are permanent. I won't know how to fix them until I see for myself how he's acting after this. We'll just have to wait and see. If you want to look at him, you'll have to be cautious. And be prepared for anything. In the worst case scenario, something may go off in Naruto's head making him turn into Kyuubi. That is all. Chiharu! Uzumaki Naruto to room 429!"
In room 429, Naruto opened his eyes. He struggled to sit up in the bed and scanned the room. 'Where am I? Let's see…white walls, no windows…Oh, yes. The hospital. Great.' He slumped and grumbled incomprehensible things to himself. Then, he tensed and looked towards the door to see the last person he had ever expected to see.
"Y–you're…"
––––––––––––––––––––––––
Now…let's just pretend that this stupid one actually knows something about biology, chemistry, or hospitals. Sweatdrop.
Oh dear. Fear the massive number of ellipses.
And yes, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Kiba, etc. were all together, but in this ficcy they all somehow got separated before Naruto ran into Itachi.
Speaking of Itachi, why did he just leave Naruto there? Puahahaha. I'll leave that to your imaginations for now.
Oh geez, that last part with Tsunade…I got the Orochimaru-ish "mad scientist" feeling out of her at that part…I could almost imagine her cackling evilly. That…wasn't what I intended to write…Shudder. X.x
AND SOMEONE PLEASE. Make me stop procrastinating. My grades are terrible and here I am writing this at 1:30AM. I still have chemistry and global homework to do. Crap. Goodnight. X.x
Oh. And I don't think I'll be updating any time soon. FOUR PROJECTS! Screams.