Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Chapter 1: Unexpected Lasting

Sakura felt the stillness in Naruto's body. It felt so wrong, so unlike him. He had always been so full energy and life, but now, he was as still as death. It was unbecoming. His deep sea blue eyes that had once held such passion now stared blankly at the ceiling.

Seeing but not seeing. She could not bear to see him that way, his life and dreams snatched from him at the too young are of 22. He had been her Naruto. He had been her rock.

He was always there when she needed him, he was always there to save her when she was in trouble, but now, he no longer would be. Her husband of under twenty minutes was gone and she was being crushed under the grief. She ran sobbing uncontrollably from the room, to numb to acknowledge her loss.

Naruto felt heat. Heat worst than any fire he could have ever felt in life. He could feel waves of disdain and anger washing over him. He could feel the mockery in the kyuubi's eyes as it watched him. He could feel the pain as it attempted to heal him.

" You weak dumb fool," he growled. "Such is life that when all you have ever wanted is within your reach, it is snuffed out before your very eyes. All those years of pining away for that sill ypink haired girl and once she is yours, you die. You poor pathetic fool. I curse the Fourth Hokage for sealing me inside one so fragile and weak, but I will not be done in so easily. You will have your moment and your woman kit! You had better be thankful, you would have died so many times before now had your father not had so much spite against me"

And with that, hellfire washed over him, and Naruto screamed a scream that only he could hear.

Tsunade stood watching Naruto. All signs of life were gone. She stared at the necklace around his neck. Her necklace. He won it being overly tenacious and determined to a fault, but even the vastness of his tenacity could not save him this time.

As she thought of Sakura, she thought about her own fallen lover. He too had been taken before he could realize his dream of becoming Hokage. He too had died before they could be together….

He too had received the First Hokage's necklace from her. The same necklace that lay on Naruto's bloodied chest. She could only imagine what this would do to the morale of the village, he had become one of their most beloved jounin after all. Unable to watch him stare at a ceiling he couldn't see any longer, Tsunade reached over him to shut his eyes.

And then, she felt it.

It was malelovent and hot, a heat more scorching than the sun. She drew her hand back as she and the remaining medics watched red cloudy substance seep from Naruto's wounds. It was mist like and was reminiscent of chakra, but this was something else.

For one thing, it was about ten times more powerful and probably 100 times more dangerous. The Godaime was entranced by the way it moved. She was amazed as she watched the wounds it hailed from get smaller and smaller…..until….eventually, they were no more. Naruto was not fully dead, not yet. The kyuubi inside him apparently refused to be done away with that easily.

"Call the other nurses back in! He isn't ready to give up yet! We will do all we can to save him!", Tsunade yelled.

At this point, all she could do was hope. Hope that she could save him. Hope that Naruto would come back to them. Hope that he and Sakura would have the chance that she and Dan never had. Hope…. It could be crushed in an instant, but if Naruto wasn't letting go, neither would she.

"Shizune!"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!"

"Cut off a lock of his hair. We will use it as a medium to funnel our chakra into his body and aid whatever this is attempting to heal him."

She had no doubt this was the fox spirit's doing.

"But Hokage-sama, won't that kill him? We would be combining our own energy with whatever this is working inside him!"

"No, we wont. Technically, Naruto is already dead. It is the kyuubi that fights for him now and we are going to aid it in whatever way we can!"

"Hai!"

Tsunade began to focus. She began collecting everything that she had and funneling it into him. Things were looking better by the second, but she knew that their luck could change.

"Bar the door. None are to enter. Not even his wife"

Because Tsunade knew, the pain of losing someone and thinking that they had come back to you when said thought was just an illusion, was greater than the initial loss. Orochimaru had taught her that.

Sakura heard loud commotion outside of the room she had retreated too. What was going on? If they were healing wounded, they were going to have to do it without her. She was too distraught to move.

4 hours later, sweat dripping down her face, Tsunade stared expectantly at Naruto. His body had been fully restored. There was no longer a scratch on him anywhere. If he ever woke from this trance his body would be very weak for a while, but he would be fine. If he ever woke up…

He was breathing on his own, his heartbeat was slightly irregular, but it was strong. His chakra network was a bit choppy, but it was flowing. His brain activity was not what it should be, but when had Naruto's ever been? She laughed to herself, tickled at the fact that she was making fun of him. She knew that he would appreciate it, even in this situation.

Uzumaki Naruto would live. He would lead a full life with the woman he loved when he woke up. He would be Hokage. Tsunade was sure now, everything would be fine.

When he woke up.

She went to go find and tell his new wife.

So, you know the drill. I would love to hear your thoughts, in a respectful manner ofcourse! I have a pretty good number of chapters written, but you will never see them unless you review!