Cant They See? : Chapter Three

(Iruka's part of the day)

As Iruka sat in front of the rowdy group of young academy students, the only thing he could think of was Naruto.

"Hey! Nami! Stop squirting glue at Kazu!" he yelled to some of the class members.

All of a sudden, a very tired looking Kakashi appeared at the door.

"Iruka, I have something to tell you about Naruto." he said as he entered the classroom.

"what? Kakashi, what's wrong? Is he ok? What happened?" the chunin asked.

"Iruka, Naruto is in the hospital, in emergency surgery-" he was cut off by that chunin trying to run out of the door. "Iruka, i have to tell you. He didn't get hurt on a mission, training, or by the villagers. He, well, he..." Kakashi was found that phrase hard to finish, and Iruka started to leave, "Iruka! He tried to commit suicide!" he burst out. The kids in the room stopped playing, and stared at the silver haired jonin.

"No, he wouldnt, not Naruto, he he he would never..." Iruka rambled on.

"Come Iruka, lets go tell the other jonins so that his friends know, then we can see if he is out yet." suggested Kakashi.

(back in the hospital)

"why the hell did that stupid idiot do that? I mean, really, what the hell was he thinking?" Kiba ranted. His outburst just caused Sakura and Hinata to sob more.

"Kiba, we don't know why, we just know that it happened..." Kurenai explained.

"The only thing we can do now is to be there for him." said Asuma.

"BUT WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR HIM BEFORE NOW! THEN NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED!" yelled Kakashi, "i-i should have known..."

"we all should have seen it Kakashi, but he wore his mask too well." replied a less energetic Gai.

"mask?" asked sakura.

"yes." replied Kakashi, "it seems like he always wore a mask. Though many, like anbu, cover just the identity of a person, Naruto's was his smile. It covered his sadness, regret, and made us all feel like he was happy."

They were cut off of their conversation by Tsunade entering the waiting room. The light above the operating room went out, showing they were done. She walked over to them with a grim look on her face, so they all expected the worst. She could feel the regret that filled the air.

"He's… stable, but it was close, too close. Right now I feel its best if only team Kakashi, Iruka, and Jiraiya see him." said Tsunade.

"How is he… mentally?" asked Iruka, in a very distressed voice.

"There's really no way of knowing. He's still unconscious, and will most likely stay that way for a few more hours because of the blood loss. Only after then can we tell what's wrong. I'll need you five to try and find out what's wrong, otherwise, this could all happen again, and…" said Tsunade.

" and next time we could be too late." finished Kakashi.

"yes, well, go ahead, you can go in and see him now." said Tsunade.

The five of them walked in, Tsunade trailing behind. There Naruto was, almost as white as the hospital sheets he was wrapped in. His eyes had dark circles underneath them. Since he was only wearing standard hospital shorts and a shirt, you could tell how thin and fragile he really was. He looked dead, the only thing proving he wasn't being the small rise and fall of his chest, and the slow beeping of the heart monitor.

"he looks so…" Sakura thought aloud.

"dead." finished Sasuke.

"just thank kami he is not." Said Iruka.

"well lets just wait and see what we find out." Said Jiraya.

"yeah… sit and wait…" said Kakashi.