One was wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher, and treated as a hero for his deeds during times of peril and distrust between former allies.

The other was carried in by his former sensei and despite being unconscious managed to sneer at the people glaring at him. He was treated like an outcast for deserting their village in such times, despite helping in the end.

They were both heroes in a sense, and they were both armless from there battle beforehand, and they both fell unconscious and were carried back to the village by Kakashi.

"Naruto!" The Konoha 11 yelled as they approached him, they stopped in their tracks when they happened upon the remains of the battle.

The two ninja after combining fingers to weave the rat sign fell backwards and onto each other. Sakura quickly rushed towards them and spread them apart, she laid them gently next to each other.

Everybody surrounded Naruto and tried to shake him awake and bombard him with questions despite the fact that he wasn't awake.

Sakura glared at everyone and ruffled his hair, "Thank you Naruto." She said hopeful he had brought Sasuke to his senses despite the fact that it wasn't a guarantee yet. She looked back at Sasuke, seeing him so defenseless was strange. She associated Sasuke with awareness, constantly scanning his surroundings with his sharingan eyes.

He laid against the ground with tear streaks coming from his black eyes. It made her stomach drop into her gut, she was afraid to touch him such a moment of weakness. She kept her distance, she didn't like being touched when she cried. After being the love struck puppy she was, and still is. She could at least respect him while he slept defenselessly.

But not everybody else held the same courtesy for the person who had knocked the arm off of there beloved knucklehead. The more brash of them actually spoke up, "If he's alive I'm gonna kill him." Kiba said angrily. He calmed down when Hinata put herself in front of him and Akamaru jumped on her shoulder.

"Naruto wouldn't want us to hurt Sasuke." Hinata said calmly with her arms out protecting him. "J-Just calm down." Akamaru whimpered seemingly asking him to calm down as well.

Kiba growled, "But..." He was cut off by Shikamaru.

"Frankly death might be a favor to Sasuke, I'd prefer that to life in prison. With sealed chakra, no chance of escape or getting out. Being probed for secrets that he may hold." Shikamaru said as he crossed his arms, he spoke honestly and everyone knew it.

"Well that isn't for you to decide." Sakura butted in, "He has a chance of being let off easy anyways. He helped save the world!" She said matter of factly. She scooted towards Hinata and smiled at her for taking her side, she parked herself right in front of Sasuke and crossed her arms.

"I mean yeah." Ino said taking Sakura's side, she looked to the side of her and saw Sai nod.

Shino and Choji looked at each other and wisely decided to stay out of this.

Kiba growled and jumped over Hinata, acting incredibly rash. He bared his teeth and was about to throw a punch when Kakashi landed in front of Sasuke and knocked Kiba off his feet without even touching him or looking at him.

"Don't do anything I might make you regret." Kakashi said without even looking at him, he picked up Sasuke and moved everyone out of the way to get Naruto.

Everybody moved out of his way as they trusted him. He picked up Naruto and had Sasuke in his other arm. He shunshined away and left everyone else in shock.

"Where's he going with them?" Choji asked to fill the silence with conversation.

"Obviously to the medical ward Choji." Ino said as she massaged her brow in annoyance. "Geez..."

"We should probably follow suit." Sakura said as she dusted off his jacket. She wiped her eyes and looked in the direction they left. She took off with a start and left everyone in the dust.

"Yeah..." Shikamaru said a little late because everybody had already left. "What a drag..." He said as he massaged his brow, he kicked a pebble and followed everyone else.

Kakashi glared at another villager, this time they dirty eyed Naruto instead of Sasuke. Some of the older villagers remain stubborn, alas there's nothing that could be done.

He watched as Naruto was wheeled away on the stretcher. He personally brought Sasuke to a room and asked for a nurse. When she came he told her that he'd deal with anyone who deals with Sasuke before he's well personally, then he spun his sharingan for effect.

"S-Sure." She said nervously, she straightened out her uniform and fixed her posture. "I-Is there anything else you'll be requesting Mr. Hatake?"

"Yes actually, I'd like to ask/demand a personal nurse/caretaker please." He said as he laid Sasuke onto a bed never taking his eyes off the nurse. "At your earliest convenience.."

"Of course, who did you have in mind..." She said slowly looking at her board.

"Hinata Hyuga." He said as he looked at the sleeping Sasuke, 'How far you've fallen kid..' He thought sadly. "Her medical prowess is what I need and I don't trust Sakura to not let her emotions get in the way of this." He said justifying his decision. Ino was another option but he didn't trust her to not--do things to him as he slept.

An awkward silence ensued as Kakashi continued staring at his former student. A draft blew through the room and snapped the nurse out of it.

"Um, I'll do what I can. As the heiress she's quite busy..." The nurse said looking at everyone's schedule.

"Oh you hadn't heard, she had her position snatched by her sister. A true shame, but that's how the world works." Kakashi said shrugging it off, it furthers his own agenda anyhow.

"Uh yeah, I'll check with her and see if it's okay." She said awkwardly, she started to slowly walk backwards out of the room.

"See to it, you do." Kakashi said as he pushed himself off his nursery bed. He shook his head one more time and crawled out the window. He'd check on Naruto but chances are he's being given quality care. He's the village hero after-all.

His feet touched ground and he looked to his right and saw all of Naruto's comrades walking into the hospital with flowers and such. Except for Tenten whom had a--Kunai with a ringlet handle in her hand. An odd choice for a get well soon gift but it was within her character. He shook his head again and left the properties.

There footsteps made audible noise against the floor of the hospital, as ninjas they noticed this. It held no bearings to the current situation but hearing your footsteps has a way of creeping you out.

"Hello, we are looking for a Naruto Uzumaki." Lee said nicely to the lady behind the corner.

She looked up and gave a polite grin, "Room 7." She said as she spotted Sakura and Sai with them. They could be trusted and he wasn't in critical condition or anything like that.

The group nodded in response. Akamaru jumped out of Kiba's arms and ran down the hall towards Naruto's room.

They put a lot of effort into rebuilding the hospital. It looked better than it had before.

Lee looked at room 4 as they passed by it. He shook his head as a wave of memories came crashing back, his dreams of being a ninja were nearly destroyed and he coped with it while he was in that room. Till he decided he'd had enough and snuck out, he expected Naruto would do the same.

They all looked at the hospital rooms they had previously been cared for in, they all knew it well. The hospital was not a very fun place to be. They all stopped once they reached Naruto's supposed room and walked in.

Sakura sat in the chair next to his bed and Ino and Hinata placed the flowers in some glass on the window. Shikamaru leaned against the wall and waited for someone to talk. Shino did the same, he told his bugs to stay put. They were supposed to be respectful in a place like this.

Hinata looked at Naruto and sighed, his blonde hair was the lightest thing in the room. She motioned for Shikamaru to turn on the lights.

He groaned and flicked the lights on. The room was lit but the atmosphere remained dark and gloomy. Sakura pressed her finger to her temple and started to shake Naruto awake despite everyone's protests.

"I'm the best doctor here, I know he'll be fine if he wakes up!" She said justifying her actions. She stopped when he started to stir and backed up for a second as the weight of her actions hit her. She sighed, she had a moment of weakness. Weak...

Naruto opened one eye and awoke to everyone dirty eying Sakura. "Um, hey guys." He said casually, he tried to get up and fell back down.

"No stay down." Lee said quickly, "You are not ready yet."

Kiba nodded and agreed with Lee, Akamaru hopped off his shoulder and jumped onto Naruto's bed. He whimpered and scratched at the blanket seemingly telling Naruto to stay down.

"Y-Yeah Naruto." Hinata said.

Naruto pulled a cable out from his back. "This is what pulled me back, I didn't fall." He said as he tore it off. He picked up Akamaru and dropped him on the floor then jumped out of his bed and gave his trademark grin. "Hey guys." He said as he attempted to scratch the back of his head then remembered he was down an arm and sighed.

Sakura groaned as she saw what he tried to do. "You knucklehead." She said with misty eyes. She hugged him, "Thank you for bringing Sasuke back..." Her words struck a chord in Naruto.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, where is he!" He said as he pushed Sakura into arms distance. "Oh he's here…"

"But right now you need to worry about you." Hinata said as she casually walked in front of the door. "You still need t-time to heal, and Sasuke needs time to find himself."

He groaned, "Yeah I guess, waited this long. Right?"

"Right Naruto." Sai said as he put of a painting of him and Ino in an--explicit pose.

"Sai!" Ino yelled.

Shino smirked against the wall, and Shikamaru mumbled, "Troublesome." As he handed Kiba a tissue. He looked away and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve.

Hinata blushed and hid her face behind her giant sleeves. She stuttered quietly as her blush burned her face. Akamaru turned his head weirdly at everyone's actions.

Tenten pulled out a kunai and it shined in the sunlight, she whirled it around on her finger and prepared to throw it at the revolting picture. But Lee grabbed her hand through pure instinct, the picture made his brain stop working. And he had a blush that rivaled his drunken one.

Naruto nearly passed out again, he'd always found the blonde attractive. So to see her like that, made his head spin.

"Well you said you liked it, and according to according to my book art is good to share. And it gives the room personality."

"I told you to stop reading those stupid books!" Sakura and Ino yelled at the same time. They looked at each other surprised, but then back at Sai.

Sakura sighed and decided to let it go, Ino wasn't as forgiving though. She thought of the many things she'd do to punish him later. She giggled evilly and caused Sai to shiver, he knew that giggle.

Naruto cleared his throat. "Um, so I'm kinda tired now so can I maybe get some rest." He said as he leaned into his bed.

Everybody vigorously nodded there heads, eager to get out of the situation. "Stay youthful Naruto!" Lee said quickly recovering from his trance. Tenten groaned and nodded with him. She pulled him by his shirt and walked out of the room. "Get well soon Naruto." Her voice echoed in the halls.

"W-We'll be here for you Naruto." Hinata said shyly, she gave him a tiny smile and Ino and Sakura giggled at her antics. Ino nudged Hinata and she squealed and ran out of the room.

Akamaru chased after her and with that Kiba left too.

Shino's bugs surrounded Ino and she screamed and ran out right after Hinata. Sai calmly walked out of the room and and tried to remember if he had ever read anything about calming down a frightened female.

Shino smirked behind his glasses and called his bugs back into his hoodie and casually strolled out of the room.

Shikamaru sighed and pressed a finger to his temple. Sakura grabbed him by his collar and dragged him out of the room while he mumbled something about women and a drag.

Naruto sighed and wiggled back into his bed, usually he was quick to get out of the hospital but right now he was still weak. Along with that the beds were way more comfortable than the one at his house so he decided to ride it out for the time being. He sighed as he begun to relax. He scanned his room for potential threats because that's just what he did, he'd check the shower curtains before he'd even think of taking off his clothes. He was a cautious person and while he was doing so his eyes happened upon the painting nailed to the wall, he sank into his bed. He didn't know how he felt about it being there…

Hinata decided to skip checking in at the hospital for her daily duties, she was just too tired today. She walked in a straight line as the streetlights illuminated the way to the Hyuga's estate. They had really built it up since Pein destroyed all of it. She casually strolled up the stairs leading to her house and decided to skip going through the new gate. She climbed up a tree and right over it, it kinda felt counterproductive. The gate really didn't do much besides look pretty.

She jumped on top of her balcony and jumped onto her window sill. She landed perfectly then climbed into her room. She sighed, she had been avoiding showing her face since being demoted. It was something she was fine with, hell let it happen. But she still felt like holding onto what little pride she had, and letting her father or Hanabi or anyone else rub it in didn't really further that goal.

She laid down onto her bed and looked at the calendar next to her bed. Free as always, she had no responsibilities anymore. Kinda why she's been spending most of her days at the hospital. She rolled over and looked at her wall, she shut her eyes and got the first bit of sleep since the war. Well except for the genjutsu but, she didn't like thinking about it. A blush tinted her cheeks at the thought.

She honestly wouldn't of minded never waking up from it. But not just because of him, and just like that her blush went away and a single tear took its place.

"Neji…" She said bitterly, all her training and in the end it was all for nothing. She still lost the one person who'd still call her 'Lady Hinata.' Despite her demotion, who actually treated her with a bit of respect. She was a humble person, she never took advantage of her position. But to have all that respect then have it stripped away from her, she was used to being respected. Not this.

She rolled her eyes at her behavior, in the end did it matter how she felt. She closed her eyes and kept them closed as the memories of the past clouded her dreams.

Sasuke looked at the roof of the hospital, he had analyzed every detail of the room. Counted every square tile, and was aware of any potential squeaky spots on the floor. All without using his sharingan, not that he could. He hasn't tried but he really wasn't in the mood to test out whether or not anybody potentially watching him would see that as a threat.

Because of course he was being watched, it wouldn't make any sense to leave him without supervision. He was a criminal, a rogue ninja. Wasn't Danzo the Hokage when he killed him? Either way it was a murder. They have enough on him to strip him of his chakra and keep him imprisoned for the rest of his life at least. So why haven't they?

Perhaps it was because he helped save the whole damned world. Well he wanted to end it, or at least fix it afterwards. But they probably didn't know that. If they didn't they didn't need to know anyways. But his war crimes probably balanced things out, everything was a maybe and it pissed him off.

He groaned, how long had he been here. Maybe he's already all healed up and the Anbu are coming for him tomorrow. That doesn't seem likely. He could take on any amount of Anbu fully healed. Maybe they were waiting for him to fall asleep again. Maybe they were coming tomorrow, he groaned again and decided to stop thinking about it. Let them come! Even in this weak worthless state he'd go down kicking and screaming. He tried to turn over to sink his face into the pillow but the cables prevented him from doing so. He sighed and stared at the roof again, and he didn't plan on stopping or closing his eyes for even a second. There was just too much to consider to even think of sleeping, but his regular eyes weren't as resilient as his sharingan eyes. The lack of activity in tandem along with that, caused him to eventually fall asleep.

Kakashi sat on the roof and watched over Sasuke. He was surprised he hadn't attempted to leave, he probably had his reasons. Most likely being that he was too weak to fight off any potential Anbu in the vicinity. That'd make sense considering he doesn't appear to be sleeping any time soon. Kakashi mentally groaned and adjusted his seating position while being as silent as possible, he was in for the long haul here. He looked at Naruto's window a couple doors down from Sasuke's. There rooms were similar enough but Naruto's had flowers on his window sill. He looked deeper into the room and saw Naruto sleeping in a rather ungraceful manner. Cradling the pillow against his stomach while his other hand ran off the bed and his legs were spread wide open. It was quite the sight, he'd have quite the hard time jumping up out of the way should an enemy ninja attempt to slit his throat.

Kakashi shook his head at the thought. This generation had it easy. He stretched and took a second to stare up at the sky. He looked around quickly but thoroughly. Once he was absolutely sure nobody was around he pulled down his mask and took a breath of fresh air.

He wanted to take a minute to enjoy the serenity of a calm night where there were no enemies to fight, and no plans to be made. He laid down and counted the stars, but all good things must come to an end. As he was brought out of his trance by a particularly loud snore from Naruto, he groaned then facepalmed. After that he put his mask back on and stretched. He'd set everything up tomorrow, for now he just wanted to relax. Maybe go see Obito's 'grave' tomorrow. He wondered what it'd be like to see it again knowing what he now knew.

"Questions for later." He said dismissing his own thoughts.