Authors note: Thank you guys for all the reviews! Holy sheet! That was a lot for only, like, two days! Here's thanks to all of you (to name a few):
etj4Eagle, Light Side Darth Vader, naruhinaramen, Darth Anthony, freedomriderx, Nightshadegirl, yooper0987, Werewolf lycan, catchysummer, shinonigga, DeaGrimm, The Raven's Flute, the DragonBard, Silver Ice Bullet, Nolisten, Shadow of a moonless night, Inferuno Ookami-Ryuu, linksword01, Rose Tiger, RasenganFin, koolbanana, Sgt. Nolisten, WolfLord04, warlordluke, and nitwittie.
Thank you all so much for your reviews, subscriptions, favs, and general support! (sorry for taking so long to get to the story! i won't do this again ^^;)
Naruto woke up still tired the next morning. He was physically and emotionally exhausted from the day before. The memories came back in a rush. Hinata fighting, Hinata caring,… Hinata dying. Naruto's blood boiled and he had to control himself again. The bright morning smiled at him cheerily and the boy hated it. Why should the world be happy if Hinata was slowly dying? Dying alone. Dying in pain. Naruto wanted to cry, but he couldn't bring himself too. He was dry.
He showered in silence. Ate his breakfast in silence. Dressed in silence.
That silence was broken by a sharp knock on his front door. The boy didn't want to answer it, but it could be his sensei. Naruto walked to the door, his forehead protector and iconic jacket gone and his blonde hair disheveled. He opened the door slowly with eyes clouded with pain. Those eyes widened in shock to see the Hokage. The old man smiled warmly.
"Hello Naruto," he greeted. Naruto's surprise faded and he looked away.
"Hey," he mumbled. The Hokage strode past Naruto into the boy's house. He heard the door close slowly and Naruto shuffled after the aging leader. The old man didn't know of Hinata's condition and therefore, couldn't understand the container's dejected mood.
"What's wrong?" he asked, "You should be happy! You passed to the final stage of the exams!" he clapped Naruto on the shoulder. The boy shook it off in rage.
"Happy?! Why? What's the point?!" Naruto shouted, turning away after almost punching the old Hokage in the face. Sarutobi looked at Naruto with unveiled shock. He thought that Naruto would be excited that he progressed to the next level. He couldn't understand Naruto's anger.
"Naruto," he whispered softly, "what happened?" Naruto whirled around with his eyes blazing and his hands clenched into fists.
"Hinata is going to die and it's all my fault! I made her get back up when the proctor was going to call the match! She got back up and Neji hit her again! Now she's going to die! Kakashi said it was cruel to make her fight in all that pain, but I didn't listen! I made her keep going! She's gonna die old man!" he yelled. Naruto fell to his knees again and cried, even though he thought he had no more tears. His whole frame shook with each sob and Sarutobi was at a loss for words. He once again put his hand on the boy's shoulder. He still didn't know that all Naruto said was true.
"Listen, Naruto, I'm sure you're overreacting," he started gently. Hearing this, Naruto roughly pushed the Hokage off of him.
"No! I'm not overreacting! I talked to the doctor! Her heart, lungs, heck, her whole chest cavity is pulverized! They can't replace her whole body! She's got maybe three months to live, old man! And they… they said… that if she hadn't been hit that last time, she would've been fine! They could've fixed her jiji! They could've fixed Hinata-chan! And now… because of my stupid, STUPID, cheering, she's going to die!" he screamed, collapsing into tears again.
Sarutobi stepped back and called in an ANBU wearing a bear mask. If the shinobi was surprised to see the Kyuubi brat crying his eyes out, he didn't show it.
"Kuma," the Hokage ordered, "go to the hospital and find out the status of Hyuuga Hinata. Bring back the results to me," the bear ANBU nodded and disappeared. The Hokage knelt down and tried to comfort Naruto, but the boy just stood up and ran to his room. The old man sighed.
A few minutes later the ANBU reappeared. Bearing the worst news possible.
"Status of Hyuuga Hinata: Fatal internal injuries to the heart and lungs. Two to three months expected survival time. Severe blood loss. Muscle tearing. Chakra disruption. Expected time to awake: at least one month, sir," he reported. The Hokage sighed.
"Naruto was right," he muttered. He turned back to the ANBU. "Inform the family and bring me the rookie genin teams well enough to leave the hospital," he spoke firmly, despite his age.
"Yes sir," the ninja nodded before disappearing. The Hokage stood still for a minute, eyes closed, collecting his thoughts. He then resignedly walked towards Naruto's room.
Naruto's room was one of only two true rooms in his apartment. The living room was connected to the dining room which was connected to the kitchen. It was all one open space. At the end of a short hallway you came to two doors; one for the bathroom and one for his bedroom. As Sarutobi approached the bedroom he could here that Naruto had stopped crying, but was muttering to himself. The Hokage was tempted to press up close to the door and listen in, but thought better of it. Naruto didn't trust much as it was. So, instead, he knocked. The muttering broke off and silence descended. The old man knocked again. A furious Naruto stood in the doorway and glared.
"What?" he asked brusquely. The Hokage just smiled.
"I just wanted you to know that since you did progress to the finals, I wanted to make you aware of who your facing," he smiled to the boy, hoping to cheer him up a bit. Naruto's face was set in stone.
"I'm not going to finish the Chuunin exams. I'm leaving Konoha to go find Tsunade," he told Sarutobi. The old man's mouth opened and he started gasping like a fish. Naruto glared harder.
"B-b-but Naruto! Y-you have to compete! Your first match is with Hyuuga Neji!" the man explained, trying to give Naruto some reason not to go looking for his former student. At this, Naruto froze. His eyes narrowed to slits and he seemed to start almost vibrating in anger. The Hokage stepped back a little in fear of the container.
"Fine," Naruto growled, "I will stay. But only because I swore that I would beat him," the boy snarled. Sarutobi tried to protest. He just really didn't want Naruto to go looking for Tsunade. That woman had hated Konoha ever since her lover Dan died, and it would kill the container to find her only for her to refuse to come back to heal Hinata.
"Naruto-" the Hokage started, but was cut off by a loud jostling outside, the sound of voices, and several knocks. Naruto, with his face icy, brushed past the aging man and made his way to the door. As Naruto trudged towards the door muttering and cursing under his breath, the bear ANBU reappeared behind Sarutobi.
"I have brought the rookie genin as per your request. I regret to say that their jonin senseis have also insisted on tagging along," the kura-nin lowered his head. The Hokage pulled his pipe out of his robes and lit it, waving his hand dismissively.
"That is acceptable. They also should hear the news of poor Hyuuga Hinata. Did you also tell the family?" the old man asked casually. He knew the ANBU had, but he just wanted to open up conversation for the report. The shinobi stiffened.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he spoke robotically, as if nervous. The old man motioned with his hand for the ninja to continue. "They… they did not care, Hokage-sama. The elders were unhappy that she was so weak for getting beat by Neji, a branch member. Hiashi-san said that now Hanabi could be undisputed clan head, and only the branch members looked remorseful. With the exception of Hyuuga Neji, that is Hokage-sama," the ANBU spoke quickly and left after giving his report. Sarutobi frowned and quickly looked and to see if Naruto had overheard. With a sigh and a frown, he saw that Naruto had frozen with his hand on the doorknob. His gaze slowly turned to lock with the old Hokage's. Naruto's eyes flashed crimson, but quickly reverted to blue when there was a another, more impatient sounding, pound on the door.
Naruto opened the door to see the rookie nine, excluding Kiba and Sasuke who were still at the hospital, and the rookie nine's jonin senseis. Naruto opened his mouth to rudely tell them to go away, or ask why the hell they were here, when Sarutobi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and raised his other hand in greeting to the mob on the other side of the doorjamb.
"Good afternoon," the Hokage started, motioning the crowd inside, "sit please. I have some important news that all of you need to know. It concerns one of you," at this statement Naruto's eyes widened. Then they hardened into a glare as he leaned up against the wall, all the space on the couch and chairs filled. Some of the genin were forced to sit on the floor, but they didn't mind much.
"Does this have anything to do with Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked out of the blue, nervous for some reason. Naruto's glare tightened on her. He growled deep in the back of his throat and Sakura flinched.
"No! It doesn't have anything to do with you precious 'Sasuke-kun'!" he spat out in an overly mocking and sarcastic tone of voice. Sakura's eyes started to water and Naruto turned his head in disgust. The rookies were shocked an Naruto's callous treatment of Sakura, seeing as he had a crush on her. Kakashi alone knew the source of the Kyuubi boy's anger.
Sarutobi continued after everyone's surprise wore off. "No, Naruto is right, this does not have to do with Uchiha Sasuke. Rather, it has everything to do with Hyuuga Hinata. She is in the hospital right now, as you all probably know, and I have just received updates on her condition. She-" he was cut off by Naruto's abrupt shout.
"She's dying okay? Hinata-chan's dying. Neji screwed up her heart and lungs so bad that the med-nin here can't fix her. She's got about three months," he bit out, angry at himself and the rest of the world.
There was utter silence in the room. Ino's mouth had dropped open and her eyes filled with tears. Sakura looked down at the floor, sobbing quietly. Shikamaru had put his hand into his classic 'thinking position' as if trying to figure a solution to this cruel development. Chouji had frozen and the chips in his hand, currently on a path to his mouth, fell out of his loose fingers. Shino became rigid and his hands balled into fists. Naruto was up against the wall still, clenched fingers digging into his palms painfully. Kakashi's visible eye widened and he sat back on the couch. Kurenai burst into tears because she saw Hinata as a daughter. Asuma turned to comfort the crying jonin after taking out his cigarette and snuffing it out. The Hokage looked very distressed and he shook his head sadly. Naruto looked up and surveyed the rest of the room's reaction.
"Stop crying," he told them roughly. Everyone looked at him, again shocked by his insensitive statement. "She's not going to die, I'm going to save her. So stop all of your crying," he said, a look of familiar determination on his face. Sakura got angry at this and she stood up quickly. The pinkette stalked over to Naruto and grabbed Naruto's shirt collar roughly.
"And how the hell are YOU going to save her, when trained medic ninja can't?!" she yelled angrily, pulling back her fist to punch him over the head. As it sped towards him, he decided that he really didn't like Sakura all that much.
Catching her fist, he glared hard at her. "I'm going to leave the village after the Chuunin exam finals and find Tsunade, the legendary Sannin. She's the best medical ninja ever. I'm going to find her and bring her back here and she's going to heal Hina-chan. I'm going to save her Sakura. You had better believe it," he stated solemnly. She looked disbelievingly for a moment, but slowly let go of his shirt. He relaxed and started to lean back on the wall but Sakura whipped around and delivered her punch unexpectedly. Naruto hit the wall behind him and sunk to the floor.
"Idiot! Why wait until after the Chunin exams, then?! Why not leave now, while Hinata is still breathing?!" she yelled angrily. She looked at Naruto and put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot. Naruto looked up at her tiredly. There was a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth.
"I have to beat Neji," he told the enraged girl. All eh got for the trouble was a foot to the head. He flew sideways and landed on the floor in a heap.
"So it's about revenge! You're going to waste time looking for Hinata's savior because of revenge?! How stupid can you be Naruto?!" Sakura shouted, striding towards Naruto, ready to deliver more pain if the boy's answer displeased her. In the background the rest of the ninja looked on in sadness and shock. Sakura was being very brutal to a Naruto that seemed very shook up about Hinata's imminent death.
"Yes! I swore to her that I'd beat him, and I will! You can't go back on a blood oath! I don't go back on m-" he was cut off again as Sakura kicked him in the side.
"You're so stupid Naruto! You think you can beat him just because you say you can?! He's a genius! Hinata's going to die because you want to live out some glory!" she screamed, tears flowing down her face. The other genin gasped. That he was doing this just for himself was an absurd idea! He always fought for others, always! The Hokage himself looked very surprised at the Haruno's statement. Naruto was a selfless individual.
Everyone froze as a sharp burst of killing intent came from the boy as he slowly pushed himself of the floor. Naruto's eyes were blazing red and he wiped the blood from his lips. He bared his teeth and growled at Sakura, Kyuubi finally taking hold of his mind.
"How dare you let her treat you like that! Treat us like that! You are so weak! Just let me take care of her!" Kyuubi ranted, pacing in front of his cage. Naruto shook his head.
'I like her Kyuubi-baka. I'm not going to hurt her,' the boy stated stubbornly, crossing his arms. Inside his mindscape they heard Sakura's voice, coming in through Naruto's ears. Her statement of: 'HINATA'S GOING TO DIE BECAUSE YOU WANT TO LIVE OUT SOME GLORY!' echoed through his head and Naruto snapped.
'WHAT?! I'm doing this for Hina-chan! Not for some stupid prize, or trophy, or a pat on the back!' he yelled. He balled up his fists and roared in his mind.
"I'll deal with that insolent bitch, kit. Don't you worry," Kyuubi said softly, reaching out with his chakra and grasping Naruto. The boy was so lost in anger that he either didn't notice, or didn't care.
Kyuubi-Naruto in the real world growled at Sakura and she quickly backed up. The voice that came from him was more gravely than usual; more that of Kyuubi's voice than the boy's.
"Stupid girl! I'm not doing this to live out some childish fantasy! Not to win a trophy or get a pat on the back!" Kyuubi-Naruto quoted the original Naruto from earlier, "I'm doing this to save my Hina-chan! I need to save her so she doesn't die! But, I swore to her and to myself that I would avenge her! If I fail to… if I fail to get to Tsunade in time, than I at least need her to know that Neji paid for what he did!" the feral boy snarled. Sakura was crying by this point. She could now see the traces of blood on his face and mouth and realized how much she hurt him; and how much he was affected by Hinata's doom.
'I…I n-never meant to hurt him! I just… just wanted him to see that he was being an idiot again!' Sakura wailed in her mind.
Inner Sakura, though, had different feelings on the matter.
'HOW DARE HE BE SO CONCERNED ABOUT THAT WHITE-EYED FREAK! SHE STUTTERS, BLUSHES, AND IS PLAIN IN COMPARISON TO OUR BEAUTY!' she raged. Sakura was confused by her Inner's reaction.
'We aren't jealous. I don't love Naruto. Hinata could have had him, no problem, if she was going to live," she argued.
Inner Sakura snorted. 'WELL, YOU DON'T LOVE HIM, MAYBE, OR AT LEAST DON'T REALIZE IT, BUT LOOK AT HIM! HE'S SMOKING HOT WHEN HE'S BEING STRONG LIKE THIS!'she pointed out. Sakura rolled her mental eyes.
In reality, though, she didn't notice the demon-Naruto tense up his muscles in preparation for a pounce. He was going to leap onto Sakura and try to rip her throat out. He bunched up his leg muscles and leapt into the air. As he was in the air on his short distance to Sakura, the Hokage and the Jonin blurred into action. Kakashi grabbed Naruto from behind, Kurenai stood in front of Sakura, Asuma held Naruto's wrists, and the Hokage pulled out a seal designed to repress Kyuubi's chakra; made shortly after Kakashi's report of a seal leak that occurred in the Land of Waves. Naruto dropped to the floor with a thud.
The genin looked at Naruto. Then they looked at each other. Then they looked at the Hokage.
THUD.
Sakura did a Hinata and hit the ground, out cold.
Authors note (again) POLL! please go to my page and read the new poll about this story! your input is needed!