The Only Moment We Were Alone

He knew they were unhappy about something, and he knew it had to do with his stomach, but that's about all he could figure out. Naruto—which was apparently his name—wasn't sure how his stomach could bother people so much.

"What is it?" he asked, and was disappointed when the silent conversation between the adults above him seemed to continue. Not one of them answered his question. He propped himself up on elbows, pleased when Shizune began stacking his pillows up and helping him slide back to sit against the headboard.

"He's suffering from amnesia," Tsunade said at the questioning looks from the two.

"If it even is him," Ibiki said, lancing Naruto with a cold glare. The young man shrunk back a bit.

"That's why I asked you both here." Tsunade's eyes shifted from Ibiki to Inoichi. "I'd like you to see if there are any seals on his memory, or if..." She let the sentence finish itself, Ibiki's words still hanging in the air heavily.

"Here? At the hospital?" Inoichi uncharacteristically questioned.

"Here." She responded with finality. He gave a single, quick nod and approached the bedside. Shizune backed away, allowing him to sit in the visitor's chair.

"Just relax, Naruto." Tsunade said, and both she and Shizune gave him encouraging smiles. Naruto watched as Inoichi's hand descended over him, fingers splayed. The warm palm cast a dark shadow over his eyes, and then he slumped, Inoichi's hand holding his head up. As soon as Naruto was out, Kakashi glanced up at Tsunade.

"Akatsuki?" He trawled.

"It's the only thing that makes sense right now." She responded with a sigh. Ibiki must have known what she was thinking because he voiced it just then.

"A bit early, no? Jiraiya said we had another few years. He's not slipping, is he?" He smirked, but there was no humor in it.

"It must have been a false rumor. Planted." Tsunade murmured, deep in thought.

"I guess everyone makes mistakes," Ibiki agreed. Tsunade turned her attention to Kakashi.

"You said there wasn't a familiar scent on him?" He had closed his book and was watching Inoichi's silent, invasive interrogation.

"No sign of Itachi or Kisame," he said without looking away.

Hand still in place over Naruto's eyes, Inoichi suddenly turned to them. They all regarded him with hard, attentive eyes as he spoke.

"There's nothing. Just darkness with some muffled voices. Probably what he was hearing while in comatose. Nothing else." When the others did not react, he continued. "Nothing else. I've never seen anything like it before."

"No seals?" Ibiki asked, eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Not that I can tell. I've never heard of anyone being able to bury anything like this. There's no seal, no remnants, nothing. He's a clean slate." He sounded borderline impressed with it all.

"Wh-What could have happened?" Shizune asked.

"The Kyuubi." Tsunade said. "Tearing it out might have taken everything with it."

"I'm still not buying that. No one has ever heard of a jinchuuriki surviving the removal of its bijuu." Ibiki said.

"Even Jiraiya was never able to fully decipher Yondaime's seal. He could have found a way." Kakashi interjected suddenly.

"You really think a bunch of missing nin are going to risk their own hides to deliver a stolen jinchuuriki back home?" Ibiki sneered.

"If you have a better guess, Ibiki, I'd like to hear it." Tsunade's arms were crossed now as well.

"It's not him." He said frankly. Discomfort shifted over the room quietly.

"Even an imposter would have suppressed memories at least," Inoichi said softly, glancing back down at Naruto with concentration etched on his features.

"A clone, then." He retorted.

"We already established there were no jutsus on him." Tsunade stated frankly. "Even a kekkai genkai clone technique would be detected, although Jiraiya's on his way to run a few more detection seals.

"Orochimaru could have done it. He was affiliated with Akatsuki for a while there too, wasn't he? Maybe this is why they wanted that freak." Once again, uncomfortable silence.

"There is something, though." Inoichi said after a moment. His eyes were closed. No one spoke, but they all watched him closely. "Not remnants, or at least not any like I've seen before. Just emotions."

"Emotions?" Tsunade asked.

"Yeah, he's mad about something, but he doesn't seem to know what. And scared." He sighed after a pause, finally removing his hand from Naruto's face and, with Shizune, gently sliding him back to lie flat. "I guess I would be too, if I couldn't remember a thing." He shrugged.

"Are they deep?" Ibiki asked.

"Pretty deep," he nodded. "But not repressed and definitely not suppressed. He's aware of them, he just doesn't understand them."

"Maybe that's left over from what happened." Shizune offered.

"Like I said, they're completely different from any remnants, I've seen... but I suppose that is a possibility."

Tsunade bit her thumb in thought for a moment, then turned, hands on her hips, to Shizune.

"Shizune, Naruto's going to stay in the hospital for at least another 3 days. I still want you to monitor him. Make sure you get him up and moving, and report everything. Everything." Shizune gave an emphatic salute.

"Yes ma'am!" She jerked her chin in a nod.

"You two, bring Jiraiya up to date when he gets here. Should be in about four days if I'm not mistaken. Find out what you can about those emotions, Inoichi. Kakashi, let Sakura know about Naruto's... condition." Almost imperceptibly, Kakashi's shoulders slumped. "He needs support, and she needs to know before she visits."

With measured agreements, all but Shizune departed the room, each wearing a troubled but determined expression.

—

It was the next day when Sakura, her feet heavier than she had ever felt them, approached the same room slowly. She let her hand hover over the door handle for several seconds before opting to knock. Shizune answered with apologetic features.

"Please come in." She said, taking a seat near the door and busying herself with some reading. Naruto was leaned far out the window, scanning the streets below. When he heard Shizune speak, he turned around with a look of interest.

"Who are you?" He asked, tilting his head curiously. Sakura did everything she could not to cringe. Shizune shot him a frown that reeked of we talked about this.

"I'm Sakura." She said, and the words felt utterly surreal aimed at Naruto. She suddenly wanted to shake him until he cried uncle and admitted that the whole thing was a really, really bad prank. Except it wasn't. For a moment, she was once again fighting tears, but she steeled herself, remembering Kakashi's warning. Don't cry, Sakura.

"I'm your teammate," she added after gaining a grip on herself. Then, with hesitation she wished she didn't have, "we're friends."

"Cool. I guess you know me pretty well, then." He gave a warm, closed-mouth smile that seemed all wrong on a face that usually grinned.

"Yeah..." She swallowed. "Well, I'm gonna catch up with you later, Naruto. Tsunade says we can probably go for a walk tomorrow. Feel better soon!" She smiled sweetly and waved as she departed out the door, trying to ignore the way his face seemed to fall.

By the time she burst out of the hospital, gulping fresh air, tears were running uncontrolled down her cheeks.

"I'll be right back, Naruto-kun. Just wait a moment." Shizune said, hurrying out the door. He suspected that she was going after Sakura, but he couldn't be sure.

"Okay," he said to the empty room.

He'd been standing for a significant amount of time and was really starting to feel his weight, but he walked another restless lap around the room before flopping back down onto his bed.

Sakura...

Muffled voices spoke around him, making his hair stand on end.

Naruto's eyes widened, but all he saw was black. More muffled voices. He hated them. He had never hated something so much before. The voices were fading, falling away into the distance, but he wanted to tear them to pieces, to shred them and drink their blood. Konoha, they had said. To Konoha...

"-to-kun. Naruto-kun!" His eyes snapped open, and he immediately felt his pounding heart, cold sweat on his face. Shizune was looking down on him with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I had a dream," he said, the words drifting to his ears fuzzily as though his voice wasn't the one saying them. "I think it was a memory." She looked shocked.

"Wh-What did you remember?" He sat up meekly, his hands shaking from the adrenaline release.

"They said they're coming to Konoha."

Author's Note: I'm interested to see people's comments/guesses at this early point. Also, critique is always welcome! :) In the coming chapters I will try to include some characters we don't get to see as much as we should. Offer some suggestions if there are characters you'd like to see more of, even if they aren't rare at all. It always surprises me how much inspiration can come out of even the most limited input, so every review is appreciated!