Yo yo! Just wanted to post this up. Tokeh said it's ok enough and Yurusane said I should expand it a bit, but:

Author's Note: This can be really sad... But it'll be sappy, too!

The greatest Ninjas of the Leaf, the Sannin, were known to have all rules about being a Shinobi under control. They would not waste time on decisions, they'd give and follow orders without hesitation, they'd kill and torture without a doubt. They won't cry, ever…

But some things are just impossible to withstand.

When he had first witnessed it, he, one the Legendary Three, did not know what to do.

The screams that had filled the night, seemed to make the darkest clouds in the sky shrink away in fear, made him want to do something…Anything. But he was as frozen as a dead Snow-nin.

There simply was blood everywhere. He wanted to scream out loud, in this situation he did it without a sound.

And afterwards… He broke one of the rules.

When he saw the apologetic look of his student as he woke up. He felt sympathy for another.

My Little Scar
By MehPhisto

Kakashi was known to be one of the most collected Nins of Konoha. He was so laconic that worry did not seem to be part of his existence. He had seen a lot of things in his life and would surely still see a lot of them, again and again.

But there was one night he would never forget.

On the day he had left Konoha with his first Genin Team Ever, he had come across a sick secret the Hokage never told him anything about.

Later information gathering made him realize the Hokage didn't know of it either.

He had tried to analyze the situation, but he was simply too shocked to even reveal his Sharingan. He went to the Hokage, but the Professor was no Seal Specialist. Only one man was… And he was the Fourth Hokage.

But one thing was for sure… There was blood everywhere.

And he felt sympathy, breaking one of the rules of being a Shinobi.

He had a lot of cleaning up to do that night.

---

"Tsunade… I was going to tell you about this…"

"What… what is this!??!" The female Sannin loudly whispered.

Jiraiya looked solemnly as Tsunade started trembling just a little bit. 'And to think she just got over her fear of blood this afternoon…'

Shizune was simply frozen on the spot as they all stared at Naruto, sleeping in a bed drowning in the boy's blood… and he was weeping during his dreams.

---

Sasuke was jumping from roof to roof with a determined look on his face. He had things to discuss with a certain someone.

Nearing his house, he couldn't help but feel something was off. He crouched on top of the roof and narrowed his eyes at the grey mist enshrouding Konoha.

He was as old as Itachi was when he left Konoha now. His older brother did not live anymore. A well-placed Chidori through the bastard's face ended the workings of his brain and the beating of his heart. Well done, he said to himself.

He had saved Naruto from being killed by Itachi. But he found out he had only saved Naruto's Shadow Clone.

Of course, Naruto would be too strong at this age to need saving, even from someone like himself.

Sasuke shook his head as he stepped into the open window. 'So careless… You'd think he'd be more aware of locking his house properly after getting a name more popular than the Yellow Flash…' Sasuke thought as he activated his Sharingan and tried to locate Naruto's bedroom.

The reason he was were was to find out why Naruto had beaten him so… freaking… easily… Just thinking about it made him want to be able to kill his older brother again.

The dobe had become too important in Konoha to have free time to spar with old teammates. During days he was either in meetings with the council, the Hokage or on some really high-ranked Mission that put S-Rank to shame…

He finally located the bedroom and opened the door.

And then dread filled his very being as his feet seemed to be stepping in some sort of liquid. He even hoped Naruto peed during his sleep, but…

It was blood… Blood everywhere…

Trying to locate Naruto in a dark room, even with a Sharingan, is pretty difficult.

Performing an easy Fire Technique on his index finger made him see what was going on…

There he was, the dobe. Sasuke's eyes were widened, Sharingan fading away due to shock. "Nuh…Naruto…?"

Even with a light, it would be difficult to see, since even Naruto's pyjama's were drenched with blood. Naruto's blood.

By all means, losing this much blood could only that his former teammate was dead. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, his bed, the closets… All covered with his blood.

He was too shocked to move.

Until Naruto actually woke up…

---

"Someone is following us. Someone skilled, but not skilled enough." Naruto whispered to Sakura.

Sakura didn't look around, but tried to sense someone nearby as well. She wasn't as skilled as Naruto in sensing people, but she wasn't so bad. Apparently the one following them was too skilled to be located by her, though.

They were on a mission, the two of them. Recently, the two had become a lot closer. When Sasuke had been brought back by Naruto one day, Sakura was filled with glee and immediately wanted Team Seven to spend some time together.

Sasuke didn't feel like it.

Kakashi had missions every day.

Naruto, surprisingly, didn't feel like it either.

Team 7 had been broken into four pieces ever since Sasuke had left. But two pieces got close to each other. Naruto and Sakura.

They had become good friends. Not best friends. Sakura's best friend was Ino. Naruto's best friends were Gaara and Neji.

This mission wasn't really that important. The Hokage had given them a scroll to heavy for birds to carry over to Suna. But the scrolls were too important to be carried by even ANBU.

And Uzumaki Naruto alone was way stronger than any ANBU Team could hope to be, even with complete synchronization. Combined with someone on the same level as the Sannin Tsunade, and the Fifth wouldn't have any worries about this.

Sakura felt proud, being compared to one of the Sannin.

Naruto narrowed his eyes behind him and nodded towards Sakura. "It seems the old hag sent someone after us, as back-up. No worries, Sakura-chan, this one following us is no threat! But…" He narrowed his eyes even further as he launched himself towards another tree branch. "We have to quicken our pace, I-"

Sakura yelped as Naruto fell down all of a sudden. "Naruto!"

When Sakura landed on the ground, Naruto was staring straight ahead of him with fear in his eyes.

Sakura followed his gaze towards a simple tree. The pink-haired Shinobi didn't sense anything from the tree, or anything from around them. There was also no Killer Intent aimed at Naruto and… She put her hand on Naruto's face, while her other hand was doing a seal. "Kai!" There was no Genjutsu cast on him either.

"Sakura-chan…" His voice was laced with panic, no matter how calmly he tried to sound. "You… shouldn't be here now."

"What?" Sakura stammered, not liking the way Naruto was acting. There was no way she was going to leave Naruto in this state.

"Leave…"

Naruto's eyes were shaking, his hands were trembling, she noted. "Naruto.. What's wrong?"

She felt a sudden spike in Chakra nearby. Someone was definitely approaching them now. Was Naruto wrong and was it someone he feared? Why couldn't she sense it before?

Sakura looked behind Naruto, where the Chakra Presence was growing stronger, but her attention got snapped back to Naruto as soon as blood was coming out of Naruto's mouth. "Naruto!!"

She wanted to run as quickly as she could towards him to heal him, but stopped in her tracks as more blood seemed to come out… of his ears… his nose, his eyes…

An eerie feeling danced on her skin as Naruto's eyes turned dead. He was trembling, he was crying even…. No, Naruto didn't cry! He never cried!!

More blood came, dripping from his fingertips. His Jounin Vest soon was completely covered in blood. His pants were a wet piece of cloth. His headband was red instead of blue. His hair had turned sweaty and she could tell he was even bleeding on his head.

Swallowing nervously, she tried to look him in the eyes, but she couldn't see the white anymore. Everything was blood. She was too frozen to move, even when the blood created a pool around him. Soon, Sakura herself stood in that same pool.

And that was when he screamed.

Her eyes were so wide, that you could see her pupils and iris vibrate because of his scream. The trees around her seemed to lose their leaves. The ground seemed grey instead of brown.

He was suffering, a lot.

She didn't move as another Shinobi approached them. Behind Naruto, he landed and knocked Naruto out, ending the scream. When he turned to regard Sakura, he couldn't blame her for her state. He himself was like that too when he saw Naruto like this for the first time.

"Sakura." He started. "You weren't supposed to see that. You two were supposed to be sleeping in a tent right about now. Then nothing would have happened."

Sakura couldn't talk, still too shaken by what had occurred.

Jiraiya sent her a sympathetic look. "Naruto has been dealing with this his entire life." The Sannin looked down to see Naruto peacefully sleeping in his own bath of blood. Already his quickened regeneration was healing him.

"Ji-Jiraiya-sama…" Sakura managed.

Jiraiya sighed and knocked Sakura out as well. "This was too much for you, little girl." Jiraiya said as he caught Sakura before she fell. He quickly set up two tents for him and Naruto and for Sakura. "I'll explain tomorrow."

Even though Naruto was healing himself, the bleeding was still continuing when Jiraiya tucked him in. 'How could you forget it, Naruto?'

The next day, Jiraiya let Naruto do his basic seal techniques he had learned to deal with this situation and he woke Sakura up.

Sakura, thinking it was a dream, panicked when she saw Jiraiya wake her up. "So… It wasn't a dream?"

Jiraiya sadly shook his head. "From day one, since he was born, he had been dealing with this torture, every single night, Sakura."

Sakura swallowed nervously. "He… He never told us any of this?"

Jiraiya sighed. "And for good reason. It's terrifying, even for me."

"Naruto…" Sakura sadly turned her gaze to her lap as they both were seated in Sakura's Tent.

"Now that you have seen it, I must explain it. But I'll do this quick. You two have ground to cover." Jiraiya started. "The Kyuubi had a shit load of Chakra as you know. The Yondaime's seal has been made so that Kyuubi's Chakra would become Naruto's Chakra. But seeing as it is so much, Naruto's body won't be able to handle it. So naturally, Naruto would die after day one. But the Kyuubi is a stubborn demon who won't allow Naruto to die."

Sakura nodded her head, still understanding.

"So every night, Naruto's body is stretched out beyond belief, every part of his body is actually ripping from the inside. This because every night, more of Kyuubi's Chakra is being absorbed in his system. The Kyuubi heals him every morning. Normally, this would happen when Naruto is asleep, and no one would notice it. Not even the Hokage knew about it until Hatake Kakashi noticed it one night on a mission. Can you imagine how much it hurts to go through this pain every single night of your life? The seal is special, Naruto can endure the pain by sleeping. But if he's not asleep during the night… It hurts like hell."

Sakura's eyes turned watery.

"Now, imagine this… Naruto always had troubles sleeping, because… he didn't have such a good time growing up in Konoha. Every night he went through this pain, because he couldn't sleep. He was very lucky when he was able to sleep two days in a week. I witnessed it and my first reaction was exactly the same as yours. Someone close to you, bleeding to death without a reason, right in front of your eyes… is a really scary sight."

Sakura 's head was bowed and she was sobbing a little bit. Jiraiya grimaced, but continued.

"Apparently the Kyuubi had taught him seals where he could actually reclaim the blood he lost in the nights. He's going through those as we speak." Jiraiya paused. "If you want to know… Tsunade's, Kakashi's and even Sasuke's first reactions were… the same as ours."

Through the sobbing, Sakura managed "Sasuke-kun knew?"

"Why do you think Sasuke has become closer to Naruto these last few weeks. The stuck up Uchiha realized his life is paradise compared to Naruto's…"

Sakura sobbed louder.

"Just… be there for him." Jiraiya advised. "We all are. But none of us can take the pain for him. He has to bear with the pain all by himself."

---

TBC?