~Sirens are blaring…~
"What in the hell is going on Kabuto?"
"I'm sorry Lord Orochimaru but it seems that the leaf ninja have come to reclaim the monstrosity that is the demon boy Naruto. What are your orders my Lord?"
"Abandon the base. Everything is going according to plan. Let's leave." The two snakes sent a retreat order and left in flames.
"There he is. It looks like there are a ton of files here too. Take them and run! Let's go Sasuke! You get Naruto. Sakura! You and I will grab the files. Lets go." Hinata yelled. She and Sakura gathered all the files labelled with Naruto and left with Sasuke as he carried Naruto on his back. They left the base and headed toward leaf with the rest of their group.
The Hokage Office Two Days Later…
"Lady Hokage. The mission was a success. We rescued Naruto and we gathered all the files on him that Orochimaru had. But something is bothering me milady…"
"What is it Sakura?"
"When we got into the base no one was there."
"That means Orochimaru got what he needed. Don't worry. I doubt he got anything of use. Its Naruto we are talking about."
"I guess your right milady."
"I want you to move him from the hospital to his apartment. He deserves to rest in his house. Physically he is fine and I know nothing can break his spirit. So we have nothing to worry about."
"Alright. Thank you milady. And by the way, the files we brought are in this box." She pulled out a box from the hallway and handed it to lady Tsunade.
"I'll be taking my leave, milady."
"You are dismissed, Sakura." Sakura left the room and went to take the resting Naruto to his apartment.
One Week Later…
~Knock Knock knock~
"Damn it…It's been a week and he hasn't left his house at all. Choji, bust the damn door down."
"Yes Shikamaru." Choji charged his fist and slammed the door open. But the site that greeted them was so shocking that everyone became extremely concerned. The site they beheld was Naruto sitting in the corner hugging his knees staring into the darkness as if that was all there was. His pupils and irises were barely existent and he looked to be slightly dehydrated. Hinata started to tear up.
"Hinata, see if you can snap him out of it."
"I-I-I'll t-try Shikamaru." She said fighting back tears. She walked in and walked up to Naruto and got on her knees to look into his eyes.
"Naruto, you are safe now. No one will hurt you anymore. Lets go. The Hokage wants to see you." He just sat there lifeless with his eyes looking at the exact same spot he was looking at before. Hinata suddenly found all the courage she could and jumped towards him holding him in a hug. She held him tightly and just cried into his shoulder.
"Naruto I'm here for you. Please don't do this. If it wasn't for you then I couldn't have made it this far. You are stronger than this. Please…come back to us…" Hinata cried out. He was still unresponsive. Hinata got up and wiped the tears from her eyes and started to leave. She had a personal mission.
Hokage Office…
"Lady Tsunade, I want to review the files that Sakura and I retrieved from the lab. I have to know what happened to Naruto if I'm going to help him."
"Actually Hinata. I was going to have me, Shizune, team 7, team 8, team ten, and team Gai plus their Jōnin sensei go over it together. I am making you Naruto's guardian as well. I don't think in his current state he can take abuse from the villagers."
"Ok. When is this?"
"If you can gather everyone, excluding Naruto of course, then we can do it in an hour."
"I'll get on it milady."
One Hour Later…
"Ok. Now that you are all here, I was looking for a place to look at in the files and it seems all the files save one were just plans for future reference. They are unimportant. However, the one that wasn't had a seal placed on it and the short note beside the seal states that when opened the, seal will put you in an advanced Genjutsu similar to the Tsukuyomi that is used by the sharingan. In this Genjutsu, we will get to see what happened to Naruto over the week that he was in the base within three hours. Are you all ready?" Everyone replied affirmatively Lady Tsunade and then she began to open the seal. Everyone was suddenly placed under the Genjutsu. However, they were not ready for the horrors that awaited them inside the illusion.
The first thing they saw was Kabuto making hand signs. When he was finished, Naruto's eyes became blood shot. He started screaming and begging Orochimaru to not kill his friends. It was obvious that he was under a very sinister and agonizing Genjutsu. After what looked like five hours of torture for Naruto, suddenly it stopped and his eyes returned to normal but his breathing was still labored and abnormal. Then Orochimaru brought over an IV. He began to speak.
"I'm going to enjoy this you nine-tail brat. Your restraints are made out of adamantine. You will never be able to get free. This IV is infused with basic nutrients and fluids that you need. We don't want you to die before this is over. And there is one more thing that we added. It is a special snake venom. It won't kill you. It will keep you awake and maintain your vitals while doing so. Now for the fun to begin." Naruto was staring at the snake bastard with eyes full of fear and dread. Orochimaru took out a knife and slowly started cutting Naruto open starting at the stomach and working up to the top of the chest. He made the cut surgically but it took him roughly a half hour to do so. After that he peeled the skin away and started poking Naruto's internal organs. At this point, Naruto could no longer scream. He didn't have a scream left in him. He just stared as Orochimaru played with his internal organs. Then Orochimaru stopped after about 4 hours of investigation and sealed up the wound with sutures. He began to speak again.
"Ok boy. I'm done for today. But I'll be back bright and early in the morning. You will break. And then when I have had my fun, those peasants in the Leaf village can have you." He and Kabuto started walking away. The rest of what was relayed through the seal was horrifying. And the level of horror of each task increased with time. Eventually They came to the point where They started the Invasion. The seal ended and so did the Genjutsu. Once everyone was out, hey all began to vomit as it was horrifying what they experienced. Sasuke was the only one who did not vomit. He wasn't scared. He was downright pissed that the snake bastard did this to his surrogate little brother.
"THAT BASTARD WILL PAY!" He screamed as he slammed his fist into the concrete walls leaving a large crater in the wall. After doing some slow breathing he calmed down and everyone looked shocked at him.
"L-lady Tsunade…I'm going to see if I can't try to reverse some of the damaged done by Orochimaru. I'm going to buy and apartment and move him in with me so I can monitor him. Is that alright with you?" Hinata asked after she stopped weeping. She was clearly the most disturbed of the bunch. Everyone could tell it was bad because her eyes were red as if she had been crying the whole time she was in the Genjutsu. Tsunade quickly turned to her and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Yes Hinata. Send me the address and I will pay for…"
"No milady, I will pay for it. This is of my own free will. I'll tell my dad it is a mission and he will allocate the funds. He was actually slightly fond of Naruto. Although he never showed it."
"Are you sure Hinata?"
"Yes milady. I will protect the most precious person with my life and do my best to help heal his broken mind and soul."
"Very well. If you need any help, I'm right here."
"Thank you milady. Can you have these guys get everything ready for me? I'll get the money from my father and then I will buy the apartment that I've been looking at. I'll see you later milady. But before I leave, I'll need a mission letter to my father for proof." Tsunade quickly wrote up the letter and gave it to Hinata. Hinata left with haste and Tsunade began to give orders to the remaining.
"Sakura, take a wheelchair to Naruto's apartment and get him ready for a move. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Gai, I want you to accompany her and wait for Hinata to show up. When she does, you are to escort her to her knew apartment. But you will hide in the shadows. You shall not let your presence be known. Everyone else I want you to start taking Hinata's stuff to this address that Hinata gave me. Understood?" Everyone gave an affirmative and then they left to perform their assigned task. All except for Shikamaru. Lady Tsunade forced him to stay back.
"Shikamaru, I want you to stay behind and start planning a mission I want to take place in a year. This mission is to kill Orochimaru. Can you do it?"
"It will be a drag but after what he did to Naruto, the Bastard deserves to die. I'll start working on it right away." He sat down in the corner and started working.
Naruto's Apartment…
"Naruto…I'm here to get you ready to leave. You are going to be moving into an apartment with Hinata. She is going to protect you from everyone and help fix you up." Naruto just stayed in the same position that he was in earlier in the day. Sakura had a tear slip down her face as she proceeded to get Naruto and put him in the wheelchair. Once she sat him down properly, he got back into the same position as before. She sighed and awaited Hinata's arrival. After about half an hour, someone was rapping the door. Sakura walked over and opened it and Hinata walked in and took Naruto's wheelchair.
"Sakura, I thank you for getting everything ready. I'll be on my way now." Hinata said as she walked out the door. Suddenly Kakashi, Sasuke, and Gai started following the two. Suddenly the villagers were lined up looking at Naruto. They looked at his sorry state and many started yelling.
"Serves the demon right! Too bad Orochimaru didn't kill the bastard!"
"The Hokage should have left him back at orochimaru's lab!"
"I bet sasuke had to save his sorry ass again. The Uchiha boy doesn't deserve to be forced to deal with a demon teammate. It's a good thing for him that demon is incapable of performing his duties as a ninja now…" that was the last straw for sasuke and the last word the villager was able to get out before being sent flying into a tree by Sasuke's fist.
"You shut your face! Naruto did more than you'll ever do for this village. He is my only brother. We may not e blood but we have been there for each other over the past six months through thick and thin and no one is going to sit there and butch him out on my watch." With that Sasuke returned to the shadows to a scolding from Kakashi while the rest of the villagers left out of fear. Hinata soon arrived at the apartment where she layed Naruto down in the bed. It was a two-bedroom apartment but
Hinata figured Naruto needed to be close to someone for a few days. Not just for his safety but also for the healing process. Right now Naruto needed someone to be there for him and Hinata was going to be just that person. She completely ignored her normal reaction to being close to Naruto and decided to just lie down next to him holding him close to her. She started to cry because she knew what he went threw and she just held him tighter before he passed out from exhaustion and she followed him into the world of unconsciousness…