Darkened eyes stared pleadingly towards the old man before them, dried tears slowly flaking off his face as he blinked, vision blurred to an incoherent mess of colors and patterns. "Jiji…" he whispered in the worn tone his voice had now taken on, a voice that sent shivers up his spine as they were forcefully choked out. "Help…me." He raised his right arm up and reached out for the man that stood only a few meters away; hoping, preying, he would heed his calls for help.

But instead, the man just sat against the wooden corner, eyes wide and fixed on Naruto's face. His vision was slowly coming back to him. Shapes and colors began to match up and fit together in their proper order and the cloudy gunk that obscured his sight crumbled onto the hardwood floor. Soon he was able to make out the figure that stood in the corner of his room, and while it hurt to have his grandfather figure ignore his cries for help, it was his facial expression that hurt him more. Lips slightly parted and teeth somewhat visible and shaking, nostrils flared as if inhaling something awful in the air and eyes opened wide with the pupils shrunken down to the size of pinpricks. It was an expression he had seen from only a few people, but was well acquainted to. Fear.

He had seen it in the faces of children whose parents called him a monster. In the faces of the civilians too frightened to yell or torment him. But mostly he saw it in the mirror almost every day as he feared leaving the safety of his home to enter the unforgiving streets of Konoha.

And oh how he disliked that emotion at this exact moment, and would most likely continue to hate it if it caused his loved ones pause for thought before helping him when he desperately needed it, especially if those people were like family to him. That very hatred seemed to boil in his mind the longer he watched the Hokage stare at him the way he did, as if he were some sort of…

Naruto opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off when he heard something hit the floor. Looking down, the once blonde boy saw a small white square on the hardwood floor. It was only when he went to lick his dry lips that he understood what it was. His bicuspid! One of his teeth fell out. Before he could give off the proper reaction to losing a tooth so quickly, he heard another sound like the last one, and like before, there was another tooth lying on the ground. Naruto quickly clamped his jaw shut, his teeth tightly clenched against each other. "Jiji…help me!"

Sarutobi still sat in the corner of the room with the fearful expression that had been plastered on his face for the past… well, it felt like hours, but he had no idea how much time had passed, nor what his lack of movement was doing to his surrogate grandson's young mind.

"Help me!" Naruto hissed again, but as before, he received no answer. "Jiji!" no answer. "Hokage!?" still nothing. By now Naruto was at his limits with the old man staring at him as if he were some horrid monster from a children's tale. And so, in a louder, more guttural tone, the boy yelled as loud as his little lungs could muster. "SARUTOBI!"

Said man jumped to his feet as he was snapped from his trance, but immediately looked down as something's hit the floor. For, as he shouted, Naruto had forgotten to keep his mouth shut, and he immediately regretted forgetting it. Onto the floor rattled dozens of tiny white teeth with nary a drop of blood or saliva stained upon them. The blonde boy gasped in horror and slapped his twisted hands over his now empty mouth and let out a quiet, muffled scream.

Seeing this, Sarutobi's mind began to race with thousands of questions, most being summed up to "What the hell is going on!?" But seeing as Naruto was obviously in trouble, at least more so now anyways, he pushed the questions that ran through his mind aside to try and help the boy. Sarutobi took a step towards Naruto, clearing his throat to gain his attention, though from the way the boy was staring at him he already had it. "Naruto…is that…" 'Damnit!' he thought. 'Stop staring and help him!'

"Jiji…" Naruto said in a more quiet, albeit rough, tone with his hand once again reached out to the Hokage. "My body…it hurts!"

Sarutobi took another step forward, his left hand raising slightly as if he was going to reach out for the boy. "Where does it hurt?" he asked a bit more calmly.

"Everywhere!" cried Naruto, shoulders shaking with both fear and shock as his body was hit with another pang.

After taking another step, Sarutobi was before the boy, within arm's reach. And yet, he couldn't raise a finger to him, as the fear kept his arms as still as wood. "Naruto can… can you stand?"

Naruto wiped the tears from his torn cheeks and looked up at the Hokage with frightened eyes. "I…I'll try." He said, pressing himself from the sticky red mattress. The boy let out a pained hiss as another agonizing jolt was sent up his arms. It took him some time to slip his way off the bed and onto the floor. Naruto's head jolted up to meet Sarutobi's when the icy floor met his feet, forcing a small yelp from the child, and causing him to retract his feet. "Th… the floor's too cold Jiji…" he whispered.

"Oh…ok then just… just hold on Naruto." Sarutobi said, cursing under his breath for being unable to move out of fear. 'I have nothing to fear, this is Naruto, Naruto! And he needs my help!' with this thought, Sarutobi removed his white robes and wrapped Naruto up. He froze in his movements for a moment as he felt the boy's skin. It was like touching wet, torn leather as cold as frost; it reminded him of how a cadaver felt after drowning in ice water, which in his life was something he had the misfortune to feel once or twice. But he could not let these horrid sensations of disgust and fear keep him from aiding his surrogate grandson in his time of need.

Sarutobi carefully lifted Naruto off of his bed, placing him bridal style within his arms. He was surprisingly light, despite his size, as if he were carrying a training dummy… or body that had lost a few limbs. He shook the morbid thought from his mind, now was not the time to think of such things. As he approached the window, Naruto let out another cough, spattering flecks of blood onto the Hokage's robes, making the boy look up at Sarutobi with an apologetic look in his dusky eyes. "It's ok Naruto." He said as he hopped onto the window's ledge with a slight grunt. "Just try to hold on, alright?" He received a nod from him.

After opening the window, he leapt to the roof tops with a grunt, his hold on Naruto not faltering as he held him close to his chest, almost like if he let loose for a second the boy would be plucked from his arms. He didn't want to admit it, but he felt as if Naruto would die any second if he were not careful. It was a strange thought indeed; however, tonight had proven time and again to be very strange already.

Naruto meanwhile had his mind focused on something else, namely the quick, steady beat of Sarutobi's heart. He had his twisted ear pressed to the old man's chest plate armor, listening with piqued interest at the rhythmic thump that rattled against the old ribcage like drums. Out of curiosity, Naruto pressed his hand against his own chest to check his heart beat and see if it matched Sarutobi's.

…

…

…

Nothing…

Naruto's eyes widened as he felt no beat, heard no drums banging, no rhythm, no rattling ribs, nothing. This naturally frightened the child as he knew that people should have a heartbeat, otherwise they were… "JIJI!" Naruto screeched.

Sarutobi nearly felt his heart leap out of his lungs when he heard Naruto scream. He almost stumbled onto the roof of an apartment building, his feet skidding on the graveled floor as he quickly opened the bundle of white robe to check if Naruto was still breathing. Thankfully he was, but it was in quick, unnatural huffs. He also noticed Naruto was gripping his chest plate like it a life line. "Naruto? What's wrong?" he asked, trying to keep his composure before the boy in hopes to give him some form of comfort.

Naruto's eyes looked like they were welling up as he looked down at his chest. "Jiji… I…I can't feel my heartbeat!" his murky eyes let a few drops roll down his face… though instead of a clear liquid, two thick black drops of… something fell down his cheeks.

Sarutobi ignored this and opted to place his hand onto Naruto's chest to see if what the boy was saying was true.

…

…

…

Nothing…

He resisted the urge to retract his hand, and slowly removed his palm from Naruto, forcing on a confidant face. "Naruto, we'll look into this when we get to the hospital, but for now I want you to try and rest. Ok?" Naruto wiped his eyes with his arm and carefully nodded, pulling the robes back around him.

It was at this time that three shadows appeared from thin air before Sarutobi, the bodies forming three kneeling people, all wearing armor and clothes as black as night. One raised his head, revealing a white dog mask. "Hokage-Sama, we noticed you running from Naruto-San's apartment, is something wrong?"

Sarutobi sighed, turning to face the direction of the hospital, keeping Naruto's face obscured with his robes. "Inu, Neko, follow me; Kaeru, get to my office and be ready for my return." The response he received was a chores of "Hai!" as one of the men disappeared while the other two figures remained behind. He steadily moved towards the hospital's direction and continued leaping, the two figures following suite.

Naruto remained as quiet as a mouse within the robes as he was carried, his eyes staring up to the still face of the Hokage as they moved. He placed his hands back to his own chest in hopes that his heart would start beating again. No such luck. He remembered what Iruka said in class once; it was one of the rare times he was able to pay attention. He talked about how some ninja would fake death by slowing their heart rate, or using Justus that slowed their heart to the point where it would have seemed to have stopped. But he was not using a Jutsu to do that. He wasn't trying to fake death by slowing his heart rate. He had no heart rate. But… that would mean he was dead. Thinking back, he remembered being enveloped in darkness as that strange… thing drank his blood. He recalled everything being pitch black for what felt like days, and when light finally came to before him, it was that of the moonlight reflecting off the Hokage's robes.

Naruto shivered as he remembered what he had done next. Snatching the Hokage's hand like a loaf of bread, digging his canines into his wrist and drinking from his veins with the speed and hunger of a rabid dog. He recalled the taste of the red fluid; like warm liquid copper, salty, yet very oddly addictive. He remembered how Sarutobi had to rip his hand from him, which strangely filled Naruto with an underlying sadness for losing the meal. He shook his head at the thought. Meal? Meal?! What on earth was he thinking calling that a meal? What he did was sick, depraved, and unnatural; and to call it of all things a meal was even more unnatural…and yet, he couldn't rid the thought in the back of his mind, the thought that longed for another taste of the addictive scarlet fluid once more.

Thinking back on the previous subject in hopes of forgetting such thoughts, Naruto began to contemplate what he knew already. First, he had his blood drained until his heart felt like it stopped, or did stop. Next he awakened in his bed and did something… bad to his surrogate grandfather. After that, his body heat began to rise to unimaginable temperatures, and his skin started peeling and falling off, followed by a deafening silence. And now, he had no heart beat. The events were, without trying to overstate the obvious, odd. However, the knowledge of his heartbeat brought with it an undesirable thought that refused to remain dormant within his mind, the thought that Naruto was no longer of the living.

Looking up to the stern face of Sarutobi, Naruto opened his mouth in an attempt to state his concerns; However, he was silenced when the Hokage shot him a quick glance, one that seemed to request, not demand, that he remain silent until they reach the hospital, which he would try to oblige.

The rest of the journey was taken in sullen silence save for the sound of feet sliding against the gravel of rooftops. Soon enough the hospital was within sight of the three ninja, and Sarutobi began to slow his pace as he entered the front doors, making sure to wrap Naruto's face further within his robes.

"Hokage-Sama!?" exclaimed a nurse. "What are you doing here?"

Sarutobi looked down at the swaddled child and back to the nurse. "I need to see Dr. Tetsuda. Now," He said in a way that seemed more like a command than a request.

The nurse nodded and ran off the get the doctor, looking back only out of curiosity. After a brief moment of silence, the nurse returned, pointing down the hall she came from. "He's in room 108, on the left."

Sarutobi nodded and began walking down the hallway, keeping an eye on the child within his arms. As he approached the room the man in the dog mask stepped forward, trying to look at the bundle within the Hokage's arms. "Hokage-Sama, if you don't mind my asking…"

"I do actually." Sarutobi interrupted. "For now, please keep guard outside the door, both of you." He received nods from the two and turned to enter the door.

Inside, next to a bed sat a man in a sterile white lab coat with a black tie tucked underneath; the words "Dr. Tetsuda" were embroidered on the left breast pocket of the coat. He had long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He gave Sarutobi a worried look as he rose from his seat. "Hokage-Sama." He said with a bow. "I was told you wanted me?"

Saurtobi nodded, walking to the bed and gently placing the bundle of robes down. "There's been an….incident with Naruto." He said as he began to remove the robes. Naruto reacted to this by tugging on the cloth as hard as he could, covering his face with what little he could take. Sarutobi stopped and turned to the doctor, giving him a stern look. "What I show you does not leave this room, do you understand?" The doctor paused for a moment, trying to figure out what this was about, before nodding. He looked back to the robes and put on a fake smile. "Naruto, this is Doctor Tetsuda. You remember him, right?"

Naruto refused to look, but nodded as he recalled the name. The doctor had patched him up during some of his rougher tussles with the other students at school, and occasionally aided him when he was ill. Still, he did not want to remove the robes out of fear of the doctor's reaction. He didn't want to see the look Sarutobi had given him again, he didn't even want to remember that look.

The Hokage let out a long, drawn out sigh as Naruto continued to refuse cooperation. "Naruto, how is the doctor going to be able to help you if you're wrapped up like this?" he asked.

Naruto paused momentarily, but returned to tugging and covering. "I don't want him to see me Jiji…" he said in a near whisper.

"Naruto-San?" Tetsuda said, mainly to get his attention, though part of him couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the boy that he not only would need to be wrapped in the Hokage's own robes, but also caused his voice to become so horse and ragged. "Naruto, please, let me see you so I can help." He spoke in a soothing tone in hopes to lure the boy from hiding, though seeing as Naruto had yet to move, it did not work. "Please Naruto-San, I can't help you if you don't let me help you."

Naruto thought on this, and though he didn't like it, the doctor was right. "You…you promise not to freak out?" He asked, moving some of his cover away.

Tetsuda let out a small chuckle and walked closer to the boy. "Naruto, I'm a professional. I don't "freak out." But if it makes you feel better, I promise I won't. Now, let's get these robes off you, ok?"

"…Ok…" Naruto let his face poke out from the white cloth, and immediately regretted it. The lights of the room shone on him and his poor eyes unforgivingly with the intensity of the sun, blinding him and forcing out a pained screech. He quickly threw the robes back over his face to block out the light, his screech dying down as he was hidden by darkness once more.

Meanwhile, doctor Tetsuda had an expression etched onto his face that mirrored Sarutobi's when he first saw Naruto's appearance. The doctor stood in his place for a good handful of seconds before turning to the Hokage, attempting to mouth the obvious question.

Sarutobi, having now gotten more attuned to Naruto's new appearance kept calm, though he was worried what it was that caused Naruto to act in such a way. "Naruto?" he said, leaning in to peer into the robes. He almost wanted to chuckle when he saw a single black eye staring up at him in a way that was similar to a child asking if there were a monster under the bed. "Naruto, what's wrong?"

"The lights… they're too bright Jiji…" Naruto replied.

Sarutobi looked to the still stunned doctor who was still attempting to wrap his head around the situation. "Lights please," he said plainly.

Tetsuda shook his head when he realized he was being spoken to. "…Hmm?"

"Lights," Sarutobi repeated, trying not to glare at the doctor for acting in such an unprofessional manor, especially after saying to his patient that he wouldn't react negatively.

Tetsuda nodded dumbly and quickly flicked the lights off. Though darker, the room was still quite well illuminated from both the lights of the town that shone through the blinds of the window, and the bright lights entering through the cracks in the door to the hospital hallway.

"Naruto," Sarutobi said, returning his gaze to the boy. "You can come out now, the lights are off."

The little black eye that stared up at the Hokage blinked as the harsh brightness was indeed removed. Naruto again unwrapped himself from the robes, this time happy to be able to actually see everything around him. One of the things he took note of was the doctor who was currently facing the light switch. "… Tetsuda-san?" he called, somewhat frightful as to what expression the man held.

Doctor Tetsuda remained still for a moment, despite Naruto's call, trying to collect his thoughts. Before the boy could call again, he turned back around, stifling a gasp he desperately wished to take in. "W…well Naruto-san… you've certainly changed since I last saw you." He forced out a dry, awkward laugh as he approached the boy. "Now… let's take a look…shall we?"

Though it was painfully obvious that he was put off by his appearance, Naruto decided he would give the doctor a fair chance to try and rectify himself. "Tetsuda … please help me…" he said, doing his best to make his voice seem normal.

The doctor turned to face Naruto with an expression of professional calmness that seemed real enough. "Though this is…abnormal, you are still my patient, and thus I will not react so…unprofessionally again, Naruto-San." He said as he approached the boy once more. "Now, let's see what I can do." Tetsuda got to work performing a basic medical exam of Naruto, starting with a simple scan of his body. Naruto was a little worried when the doctor's hands started to glow, but was reassured that it was normal. After scanning him with his glowing hands, he then moved onto weighing him. He had to pick the boy up himself as Naruto refused to touch the floor, but after placing him on the scale, Tetsuda was able to begin taking his notes, both written and mental. After that he took a look at Naruto's eyes; using a small light to see if they were working properly. This of course caused the boy to retract and hide under the robes on the bed again, and it took a few minutes for Tetsuda and Sarutobi to convince him that the Doctor wouldn't use any light to look at his eyes again.

Next he removed his stethoscope in order to listen to Naruto's nonexistent heartbeat, and then checked his nonexistent blood pressure. After that, he tested Naruto's reflexes, though seeing as the boy's leg remained still the entire time it was bopped with a tiny hammer, he then moved onto examining his ears. He tsked Naruto for not keeping his ears clean, which earned him a nervous grin from the boy. After that, Tetsuda decided to take a look at Naruto's throat.

"Alright Naruto-San, say "ahhh"." Naruto frowned at the idea of opening his mouth again, as all his teeth had fallen out, and he'd rather not know what would happen this time; however, seeing as the doctor was kind enough to help him with a good level of professionalism, he decided to oblige. Tetsuda smiled as he inspected the blonde's throat, as everything, beside the lack of teeth, looked normal. Cheeks, tongue, gums and throat were all pink and slimy; he even saw what appeared to be tiny teeth making their way out of Naruto's gums. "Well, looks like your teeth are growing back Naruto-San. I bet they'll be out and ready to chew in a few days or so," he said with his smile widening.

"REALLY?!" Naruto asked excitedly. "Can I see? I wanna see my grown up teeth!" he began to jump up and down on the bed at the idea of having gained his adult teeth before all his classmates. Say what you will about his awful situation, he still seemed to have his usual bounce back attitude.

Sarutobi coughed into his fist to gain the boy's attention. "Perhaps it would be best for you to see them another time… I remind you that your body has gone through some rough changes." He didn't like to put the boy down, but he knew Naruto wouldn't react well to his own reflection.

Naruto sunk in his place at the rejection, though he understood the reasoning behind it. He had seen his body and hands already, seen the twisted red flesh and scars that decorated him like a dark portrait. He had yet to see his own face, and from the looks he received from the two men before, it was not worth an immediate look.

"Well," Tetsuda said, attempting to regain their attention. "We're almost done Naruto-san, now I just need to take a bit of your blood and we'll be finished." He walked to the counter where an assortment of basic medical supplies laid neatly, taking from a jar a small case. "Now this will only hurt for a bit." Tetsuda turned back around to see Naruto had a strange mix of fear and anger etched on his face. "Naruto-san?" he said.

Naruto shook his head and looked to Sarutobi, new tears stinging his eyes in an attempt to come out. "I…I remember what happened Jiji…" he said with a trembling tone. "A man… a monster attacked me… and he…he…" Naruto placed his hand to the spot on his neck where the monster had sunk its fangs. He remembered the pain, the blood loss, the voice that made him strong, his fight, and then his defeat. And now it was all falling into place for him. He may be young, and a bit naïve, but he could make the connections. He lost a lot of blood, everything went black, and then he woke up but had no heart beat. "I…I'm dead… aren't I?"

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at this, drawing closer to the boy as he could see he was close to crying. "What?" he asked.

"I'm dead… I have no heartbeat… my blood isn't pumping through me, and I remember everything going black… I'm dead, but not really…"

"Naruto, that's ridiculous." Sarutobi placed a caring hand on the boy's shoulder in an attempt to try and calm him. "You're talking right now, you're brea…thing…" it was then that he realized that in fact, Naruto had stopped breathing. "Naruto?" he stepped in front of the boy to try to see if he was ok. 'Oh Kami don't tell me he…' his thoughts were stopped when Naruto looked up at him, a strange black liquid dripping down his cheeks as he shuddered.

"See? I stopped breathing after Tetsuda-san weighed me… but I'm fine! I can speak as much as I want but I never once had to take a breath! I'm dead! I'm a cabbaver!" he was ready to let more tears fall when he received a surprise. Sarutobi pulled him forward and incased him and a tight hug.

"Naruto… don't you scare me like that… I thought… I'm so sorry that I failed to help you when you needed me most." Saurtobi said this in a somewhat shaken voice. He knew he was not supposed to show this kind of emotion before anyone, but with all the day's happenings, after all the news and trauma, this was the last straw. "Naruto, I don't care if you look different, or if you can't breathe and have no heartbeat. As long as you can talk, can think, as long as you're here that's all that matters. Please, don't scare me like that, not ever again."

Naruto did not know what to think, his mind was buzzing and his mouth felt dry. He wanted to say something, but he was too stunned to do so. He opted to just wrap his arms around his surrogate… no, his grandfather and cry. "I… I won't Jiji, I promise!"

For a few minutes, the two stood, and then sat there holding one another as if they were each other. Sarutobi was the first to break the hug and couldn't help but smile at Naruto. Before he was so hesitant towards the boy, nervous that he would do something like before and tear into his wrist. But those thoughts left him now. He was sure that the boy before him was the same Naruto he had watched grow, and he'd continue to watch him grow.

"Naruto," he said. "I know this is frightening, and that you feel lost and alone, but I promise you that we will get through this together. Understood?"

Naruto nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes with his wrist as he nodded. He was a little concerned when he saw a black liquid on his wrist, and on the Hokage's shoulder, but shook it off as he knew he'd know why soon enough.

It was now that Tetsuda decided to clear his throat to gain their attention. "Well… now that I have your attention Naruto-san, I'd like to take your blood."

"Oh…ok I guess…"

The needle hurt a little going into his arm, but that wasn't the largest concern. No, the largest concern to all three males was when instead of red, the container attached to the needle began to fill with a thick black liquid similar to the fluid that came from Naruto's eyes. Tetsuda managed to take a few milliliters of "blood" and remove the needle before Naruto could start moving.

"Why is it black?" Naruto asked with a chocking voice, his throat felt as though it had built up a lot of flem after his crying spell. "Isn't blood supposed to be red?... that creature had black…blood…" it was now that he felt a horrible pang in his stomach as he began to make the connections, and at the end he had but one question. 'Am I like the monster?' Looking at his body and hands, the resemblance was uncanny and all too simple to notice, he frankly didn't understand how he hadn't realized it before. His flesh was mangled like the monster. He didn't have teeth like it… but Tetsuda did say he was suddenly growing new ones. He could tell from feeling his own face that it was not the same, definitely twisted in some way from the feeling his flesh had. And of course there was the incident with Sarutobi. The monster had drank his blood much like he had the Hokage's. All this was enough for him to jump to the conclusion that he was in fact, like the monster.

Saurtobi had made a similar connection. Though without all of Naruto's intelligence on what really happened, which he would need to get right away, he had nothing concrete. He did however notice the growing worry making its way back onto Naruto's face. "Naruto, remember, we'll get through this."

Said boy just nodded and removed the thoughts from his mind for the moment.

With yet another mental breakdown averted, Sarutobi walked with Tetsuda so they'd be out of earshot of Naruto, leaving him to ponder his situation. "So… how is he?" he asked.

Tetsuda looked at his clipboard and frowned. "I don't like saying it but in a way, Naruto was right. He is in a way dead." He paused when he received a glare from the Hokage and quickly corrected himself. "That is he is dead in a certain sense. He has no vitals, blood pressure, or brain activity. All of his vital organs have stopped working, which should mean he's "dead"… but he's sitting right there," he looked over to Naruto who was wearing the stethoscope and talking into it and making odd sounds. "In all my years as a medical practitioner, I've never seen anything like this." Tetsuda handed the Hokage his clipboard, pointing to the different sections.

Sarutobi was doing his best to remain calm as he mulled over this information. Everything on the chart was quite precise, if hard to believe. He looked up to the doctor and then to the small vile of black liquid in his hands. "And what about his blood?" he asked.

"Ah, this?" the doctor held the vile up to the light to observe the strange contents. "I'll start analyzing it immediately and get back to you with the results as soon as I can. As for Naruto, I think it would be best if we kept him overnight, perhaps for a few nights to see if anything develops."

"Alright," Sarutobi nodded. "I'll make sure the two outside keep a close eye on him." He walked to Naruto who was currently using the stethoscope to listen to his tongue click. "Naruto," he said to gain the boy's attention. "You're going to stay here for the night while I take care of some things, ok?"

Naruto was quick to protest. "What? But Jiji… I don't wanna be alone."

"You won't be," Sarutobi said, placing a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'll have two of my best ninja guarding you. And if you want, you can have them come in if it would make you feel safe."

"But…"

"Naruto-San," Tetsuda spoke up. "Hokage-Sama is trying to help you, but he can't do it here. He needs to get to his office where he can handle everything better. You want him to help you, right?"

Naruto looked down to his increasingly interesting feet as he mulled what Tetsuda said. "Yeah… but…"

"And you know that if you need anything, all you have to do is press the button on the side of the bed and a nurse will come to help you."

"But I don't want someone else to see me…"

"Then here," Tetsuda reached into his pocket and handed Naruto a small hand sized white box with a tiny red button on it with the words "Press" written on it in faded text. "Just press that button and I'll come here as fast as my legs can carry me." The doctor let a calming smile stretch across his features as he pat Naruto on the back. "Besides, you're a tough little ninja, right?"

Naruto returned the smile and happily nodded. "Yeah, I'm the toughest!"

"And you're not going to let something like a few days in the hospital get you worried, are you?"

"No!"

"Then are you going to stick it out?"

Naruto pumped his arms in the air to accentuate his new found vigor. "Yeah!"

Sarutobi let out a soft chuckle at the spectacle before him. The good doctor certainly had excellent bedside manner, that or he was a little crazy, either way seemed to work for Naruto. Turning to leave, he made sure to close the door behind him quickly as to let no one see inside the room. He turned to the two ANBU and said in a more serious tone, "No one but me, Doctor Tetsuda, anyone he deems needed, and you are allowed to enter this room until further notice, understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-Sama," both ninja's said with matching nods.

Sarutobi nodded in return and left in a swirl of wind and leaves.

Back in the room, Tetsuda was preparing to leave when he felt a little hand tug on his coat. He turned to face an anxious Naruto who was holding the little white box tightly and close to his chest. "You promise you'll come if I press the button?"

Tetsuda smiled and pat the boy's head reassuringly. "I promise, Naruto-san. I'll even fight off a legion of evil monkeys just to get here!"

Naruto relaxed his grip on the box and smiled up at the doctor. "You're weird Tetsuda-San."

Tetsuda's smile widened a bit before he left the room. He stopped at the door and turned his head to Naruto. "Try and get some sleep, alright?"

"Ok," Naruto nodded.

The doctor nodded back and left the room, leaving Naruto with his thoughts. While he would like to get up to look out the window, Naruto remembered how cold the floor had been, and decided that he should rest until morning. After squirming beneath the thin white hospital blanket, Naruto allowed his mind to wander until he was finally taken by sleep's embrace.