(Hello, I will post little things up here, mostly concerning why the chapter was late. I had exams this week, I had no time to write, and I have a research paper now- I may be a little slow with the next chapter or two.)
Weasel watches the blond relax only after a few minutes following when the bunny leaves, it was surprising to see him still alarmed. Most children would be elated to see a rabbit, especially a white one.
Another slight surprise is the wolves and spider, they are much too big for their natural size, they are at least as tall as the Hokage, perhaps taller. They also seem protective of the child; this has the potential to become a problem.
Looking a little closer, Weasel notices something else; the blond child has whiskers on his cheeks. 'Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto.' He knows the small boy; he had waved once when he noticed the child was lonely.
He idly wonders if his little brother is friends with him- it is unlikely, considering his brother's attitude towards others, especially girls.
The team leader brings him out of his thoughts with sign language, "Weasel, report back to the Hokage, inform him his youngest is the spy." He nods, but something tells him to stay. Almost hesitantly, he jumps away.
The Hokage will not be happy with their findings.
Fish watches as Weasel flickers out of view, the young man is ridiculously fast, they could probably outrun the ANBU caption. Well, maybe that's a stretch.
The ANBU leader, Eagle, signs to them, "Tiger will knock out the pack, and Wolf, throw a kunai in the child's leg. Poison it." Wolf nods, understanding where their caption is going with this. If the boy can't run, he won't be a problem to capture. Even if he can still run, Konoha's special poison will make him weak and slow.
Eagle relays more commands. "Fish will go first, see how the big animals will react then we come down. Understand?"
It wasn't a question so much as a command, Eagle likes to say 'understand' so that if someone is confused, he can give them hell once the mission is over. If you can't follow or pay attention to simple instructions, you don't deserve to be an ANBU. Really, he shouldn't even be telling them anything, they should be able to communicate without speaking to each other, even in sign language.
Tiger prepares their attack, and Wolf coats his kunai in poison.
A sudden cutting pain in his leg trips him. The blond uses Odiyaka for support as he falls. It hurts like a bitch but it's nothing he can't handle, the Villagers do worse. The real questions is though, why does his leg hurt? It was fine a few moments ago.
Looking back, his heart stops. No… no no no no… It can't be. Please, please, no.
A kunai is imbedded in the back of his lower leg, and, judging from the burning sensation traveling throughout his calf, it's a poisoned kunai, a poison he with which he is familiar. This poison spreads throughout a person's body, and causes so much pain their brain shuts down, then, it will turn their white blood cells against them. This is one poison his body can't filter out, like most poisons, so if he doesn't get an antidote, he will die.
He begins to panic. This is not good, this... O god. Ninja, Konoha Ninja are still after him. They are here. Naruto will be caught, his father will… his family- he won't get their love back, everything will have been be a waste!
The other wolves stand, alarmed. However, they collapse on the ground moments later, presumably, dead. Chi growls at the trees while Odiyaka moves himself around Naruto, protectively. The blond holds on to the black wolf's fur desperately. If he falls, he will never get back up.
An ANBU, with a fish mask- Naruto finds this odd- lands a few feet away. Chi and Kosuru prepare to fight. The white wolf's hair stands high while his teeth are bared. His rippling muscles make him look even more terrifying, more powerful. Kosuru just stands in front ready to take on the ANBU.
After a few seconds, three more ANBU land next to Fish. Naruto leans into Odiyaka, knowing this isn't good. Perhaps they could have taken on one, but four ANBU? No, this is suicide. "Run," he whispers. The poison is draining him much faster than initially thought. The burning feeling has taken over his leg. It feels as if it's blistering from the inside, turning his blood into fire, with the Kunai yet to be removed.
The blond takes a deep breath and pleads, "Please, run…" Odiyaka glances at him for a moment then turns to Chi. The white wolf lets out a nasty growl, but the ANBU give no reaction. Naruto shivers in pain as he lets out a whimper.
Suddenly, Naruto feels himself lift off of the ground and onto something soft. The blond panics, if he lies on his side….
Once Odiyaka gets Naruto onto his back, he yips, signifying the blond is secure, before turning to run. Chi pauses to let Kosuru jump on, and then follows suit. The ANBU follow swiftly behind, not bothered by the speed.
Odiyaka dodges on onslaught of kunai; quickly glancing back to make sure Naruto is alright. The blond holds on as tightly as possible, but lying down has only quickened the spread of the poison. Now, his side burns, it feels like he had been set on fire- again, but he doesn't dwell on that thought.
"F… faster." At this pace they will be caught and killed, or perhaps worse. They need to go quicker, even if Naruto falls off, they will still get away- they just need to go faster. Odiyaka huffs, Chi runs ahead, and Odiyaka follows behind at a slightly slower pace. The ANBU should have a little difficulty now, even if they can keep up, it will be more difficult.
They blindly run through the forest, somehow dodging the ANBU and their attacks. Naruto looks back to check on their pursuers, there are only two chasing them, the other two are gone. The blond closes his eyes; perhaps the poison is just affecting his vision but that theory is proven wrong.
Two ANBU jump out from the trees, in front of the wolves, cutting them off. Odiyaka tries to slow down to turn, but it does not work. Naruto feels himself ripped from Odiyaka's back, and slammed into something painfully hard. The wind is knocked out of his lungs, but he can't feel anything else wrong except a pain in his chest.
Chi immediately runs over to the blond and stands over him, not willing to let the men hurt him. Odiyaka comes over after and leans down to make sure the Naruto is still breathing. Kosuru also checks on the boy. The black wolf turns his attention back to the men, letting out a barbaric growl far more intimidating than Chi had previously.
Fish tenses for a moment, before making a few hand signals. The four ANBU surround them, prepared to fire off an attack at a moment's notice.
"Come with us or die," Fish says without emotion. Naruto's eyes water, the poison has reached his armpit on one side, and has started to spread to his other leg. If he just gives up they will leave his friends alone, won't they? There will be no reason to… to attack them.
The blond tires to say something, but no words come out; instead only small gasping noises can be heard. The leader makes a quick hand signal, before they all flash through hand seals, preparing an attack.
Weasel had gotten back to the wall quickly, it was, after all, easier to get back after tracking rather than to do the tracking. It had taken quite some time with the child moving almost in a straight line, but randomly taking a sharp turn. After that, there was a large lag in the clean air, so, that was fun. After they found the trail again and could track the child with chakra, they had the Jounin go back to the wall.
What was her name again… Hana? Well, Hanna didn't want to leave and protested. Luckily, her mother had dragged her away. That could have ended disastrous, a loud female near sleeping wolves? They would have woken up.
Once he got back into the Village, it was not long until he reached his destination.
Now, Weasel stands in front of a less than happy Hokage.
Minato takes a slow deep breath and looks up from his paperwork. They found the man- that's why Weasel was sent back. "Report." This better be good.
Taking a deep breath he informs the Hokage of his findings, "We managed to find the spy, and it appears he has a far greater ability than previously thought." Minato frowns, but Weasel continues. "They appear to be able to mutate creatures as well as plants; it would explain the sudden growth of such an enormous tree, and the strange wooden structure." The Hokage hums in dissatisfaction with this information.
'Fuck,' Minato thinks. This is far worse than originally thought. If he does work for Danzo or Orochimaru, this could… O god, imagine all the fucking experiments Orochimaru could do with power like that- to mutate others. Danzo could do some fucked up stuff as well.
Minato speaks after his small pause, "What do they look like? Can you identify them?"
Weasel opens his mouth to answer.
He waves at a small, lonely-looking child; the small child appears surprised, but waves back at him shyly.
"-"
Weasel waits for his little brother, and catches sight of the child again. The child looks… sad, depressed almost. Before he can call out to the child, Sasuke lunges at his waist for a hug. He chuckles a little, "How was school, Sasuke?" The little boy launches into a tangent about his 'stupid fangirls' and doesn't notice when his brother stops paying attention.
The little boy notices Itachi, and smiles a little, before running off.
Minato blinks in confusion, "Weasel, Report."
Itachi is brought out of his memories, "Yes. My apologies, the intruder is-"
Itachi can see the little boy out of the corner of his eye, but he tries his best to pay attention to his little brother. The little child blushes, and hides his face behind a small book, Itachi can't help but think it's… cute. Then, the little boy waves, when he thinks Itachi won't see. Itachi decides to wave back at the boy, after he waved the first time he never did wave again. However, when he turns to the boy, the blond looks like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and he runs.
Afterward, Itachi had made a point to learn the child's name, so on the walk home, he asks Sasuke. "Otōto, who was the blond-"
"You mean Ino? She is so annoying, she won't leave me alone! Neither will that Sakura girl!"
Itachi decides to stop Sasuke before the boy goes on another hour-long speech about how annoying the females are. "No, sorry, the little blond boy." Sasuke looks up at his in slight confusion.
"Oh…," Sasuke's face scrunches up in disgust, "him." Sasuke looks away from Itachi, "You don't want to know about him." The older raven is surprised by his little brother's reaction to the boy.
"Why is that?" he asks.
Sasuke scoffs, "He is so weird. All he does is watch the other kids; it's like he is a stalker or something!" Itachi thinks back on the little boy. He did watch the others, but it didn't look creepy, it looked sad, like he was seeing something he didn't have. Perhaps he doesn't have parents?
"And his voice is so annoying! He stays away from everyone, but sometimes he tries to talk to us, everything he says is so- so- so-!" Sasuke growls in aggravation. "Now all he does is stare at that stupid book!" Itachi frowns as Sasuke crosses his arms, "There is something wrong with him."
Itachi's frown deepens, "What is his name?"
"His name?" Sasuke glances up at his older brother for a moment before answering, "Uz-Uzuma-ki… Nam- Namikazu Naruto." Itachi is startled by this news, that boy is one of the Hokage's children. If this is true, why is he dirty all the time, his clothes all look old and worn? Itachi had also seen that Naruto is very frail and pale looking compared to the others. Why is that? Perhaps he is sick?
No… they could not let a sick child attend the ninja academy, would they? Itachi doesn't think so.
"Thank you Otōto." Sasuke just looks confused by his brother's words, but takes the thanks anyway.
"-unidentifiable. They had been wearing a plain mask, and a full body suit. It did appear that he has no other skills except in his power, however." Weasel says without breaking a beat.
Minato growls, "Alright, we can identify him when the rest of your squad returns." This is not good… and if his power is so much greater than previously thought, then the ANBU team could have trouble. Before dismissing Weasel, he gives another command, "Take Squad 3 back to where you found the spy to aid them."
Weasel nods, and Shunshins away.
Why had he done that… Itachi frowned deeply. He could be considered a traitor for covering up something like that, but his mouth just moved on its own. Let's just hope Naruto manages to evade the ANBU before he gets there with back up.
A small feeling of dread wriggles around in his stomach like a snake, 'You better be alright, Naruto.'
Tiger stops forming hand seals, and the one with the Eagle mask looks at his comrade in confusion.
Tiger then explodes into a mess of blood.
Eagle stops his seals, as does Wolf. Eagle tries to scan his surroundings, but someone steps out of the foliage. Naruto's vision blurs, he can't see them properly…
Eagle doesn't stand a chance; he attempts to flee, but drops dead a moment later. The man them cut's down Fish- quite literally. The ANBU's upper half falls off of his lower half, showing the full extent of the attack.
The only remaining ANBU, Wolf, he believes, takes a defensive stance, but is knocked out by someone from behind.
The blonde's vision falls in and out of focus; the poison has taken over the bottom half of his body. His arm burns now, and it has started to sneak up his neck. His other side remains mostly poison free except for a dull stinging is in his arm and shoulder.
The wolves turn their attention to the newcomers, and the spider stands at Naruto's side. Odiyaka takes a defensive stance, while Chi prepares to attack. The man who knocked out the Wolf ANBU tries his best to calm the alerted and dangerous wolves.
"It's alright, we want to help." Chi lowers himself, clearly not buying it. The man tries again, "He is poisoned. He will die if you don't let me help." The man's voice is like silk; it can lure in man, but will not work on beast but his words, not his voice, convince Chi to stop growling.
Now, the other, older, man speaks, "Let us help your friend." Chi finally backs up from the men, and breaks his attacking stance. Now, he stands next to Naruto's side. The black wolf seems more hesitant, but moves out of the way. They both stand on opposite sides of the blond. Both men can sense the wolves' displeasure in this, the air around them is tense with the feeling of 'hurt-him-and-I will-rip-you-to-shreds'.
The man that spoke first approaches cautiously, as to not agitate the wolves more than they already, clearly, are.
Naruto tries to focus on the approaching figure, but fails miserably. He won't doubt his friends' judgment, but this is a real risk. The man could want to hurt him further… but he is going to die regardless, so, it's not like it really maters now does it?
Once the man gets within arms distance, Kosuru crawls away a foot. The man would probably not come any closer if he was still basically on top of the blond.
Naruto flinches as the man touches him, Odiyaka lets out a warning growl. Naruto tries to will himself to speak, but nothing comes out. He lays their miserable, hopeful his friends won't attack. If they do, there is no doubt the men will leave him here to die.
"My apologies. Did that hurt?" The man kneels down now, and sits right next to the blond child.
He really doesn't like people touching him… when people do they always hurt him… it was just a natural reaction. These people are not from Konoha though, if they where they would have recognized him by now and would have hurt him, or just let the ANBU kill him. Naruto relaxes a little with a painful sigh; these two men most likely will not hurt him.
The man takes the sigh as a sign to continue. Putting a little chakra on his hand, the man scans the blond for any internal injuries- the kunai is obvious, but he needs to make sure there is no other injuries. Naruto can feel his skin tingle from the chakra, 'it's weird,' he thinks. He has never had a chakra scan before, nor has he ever been healed with chakra- well, foreign chakra.
"A few bruised ribs, but no broken bones. You are poisoned, however, with Konoha's specialty poison, and a lot of it." Naruto's breathing becomes heavy; the poison has started to spread to his lungs. It burns to breath.
If they don't do something soon his body will go into self-destructed mode. Not only is that painful, but also leads so an inevitable death.
The two men exchange glances before the healer turns to the black wolf, "We need to bring him to our base. We have an antidote for the poison there." Odiyaka huffs in displeasure at the mere idea of letting them take the child.
The healer senses this and attempts to persuade the creature. "You, too, can come, but if we don't leave soon, we will not be able to save him." That gets them moving. This time, Chi moves Naruto onto his back, and Odiyaka caries Kosuru. The blond still can't make out the men, but they seem trustable… Let's just hope they really can heal him.
The poison has made it into his throat, and if it goes much further, he will pass out. Swallowing, which he regrets because his throat feels as if he was swallowing fire, he tightens his fists around the white fur on which he now rests. 'Please… Hurry."
Almost as if hearing his thoughts, the darker male jumps off and Naruto's friends, as well as the healer, pursue him. Chi pushes himself to be close to the bigger, darker man- the sooner they get to this 'base' the sooner Naruto will be healed.
The 'bigger' man speaks, "Please rest assured, your… friend…" Chi narrows his eyes on the man, "will be in good hands." The white wolf comes to a decision- which Odiyaka had already made- He does not like this man or his words but this is for Naruto. So, he follows.
Naruto begins to tremble noticeably. His body is burning up, yet everything feels so cold… He tries snuggling into what was previously warm, but his body refuses to move. At this moment, he realizes the true extent of his situation. The blond is really going to die soon, this... this power will be gone, and he will not have another chance.
His eyes hurt. Perhaps he could… just… just close them for a moment. It wouldn't hurt, right? 'Just… a few minutes.' His consciousness blurs.
"Hang on-"
'Hang… on…' Why? It's hopeless- The rest of the voices words are unintelligible.
"Hang on."
His eyes drop, why should he? It's not like anyone would miss him. People would have a parade if he dies. Yeah… His family would be happy without their burden, and his father can finally be rid of his.. disgrace.
"Think about your friends."
Friends? What friends. Everyone avoids him, even his own brothers and sisters. Or, that's how it used to be- now they make fun of him and bully the blond.
"Your new friends. What about them?"
The voice becomes louder, it sounds so familiar… 'New… friends?' Oh, yes, that's right. Odiyaka, Kosuru, and Chi… They are his friends, aren't they? Perhaps he should listen to the voice, just for now.
Blinking quickly, he forces himself to stay conscious. Naruto tries to focus on his surroundings, only to find that they are entering into an underground… thing. Perhaps this is their base.
"We are here." He can vaguely make it out. It's different from either of the voices before, this must be the dark man. Naruto hadn't really been paying attention to him earlier. You know, dying and whatnot had kind of distracted him. Speaking of dying, he still is…
The side of his face burns now, but he isn't cold anymore. Why is that? The blond is sure that the two men didn't do anything to him yet- then again he was not paying attention during a large portion of the travel time.
The two wolves duck as they enter- Chi bends down far lower than Odiyaka to make sure Naruto does not hit the top of the door. He probably wouldn't have, but you never know.
The healer turns back to them, "Follow me." They quickly glace at one another, Odiyaka and Chi, before complying. He takes them down several twisting halls- dark, gloomy, halls illuminated by nothing but torch light.
Odiyaka looks back briefly to check on Kosuru, only to find the arachnid- or not to find the arachnid. Quickly, the black wolf looks down at his feet, concerned. The spider isn't there… Odiyaka looks at Naruto, ready to alert him of the missing party member, but stops. The little blond looks in severe pain- his face is scrunching up, and he is gripping Chi's fur with steel.
Chi glances back at the black wolf and huffs before taking a turn. The healer quickly opens a door and rushes them in. "In here." They quickly enter. Naruto needs medicine- or, that's what the two wolves believe.
The man shuffles through some drawers, seemingly looking for the antidote.
The cold has come back, he feels so hot- yet so desperately cold. Naruto shivers and lets out a shaky breath. The pain, the fiery pain, has spread to one of his eyes, and taken over his throat. Once the burning becomes so intense, the blond is forced to shut his eye. Out of fear of passing out, the whiskered child keeps his other eye open- which is no easy task.
'For a few seconds… I'll close my eye.' Of course he knows this is a bad idea, and that it will not be for a few seconds, but it's so cold. So hot… If he… if he just goes to sleep, it would end- you can't feel physical pain when asleep.
The smaller man turns to them with a smile, and reaches out to Naruto. Odiyaka growls low, reminding the healer that if he hurts the blond, it will be the last thing he will ever do. "This is the antidote," he quickly explains, "I need his arm."
Chi narrows his eyes on the man, but crouches down a small amount, allowing better access to Naruto's arm.
The blond flinches as the needle pierces his skin. Chi tenses, but does not make another move in fear of hurting Naruto. The older male speaks once the syringe is pulled out of the child's skin, "He will need to rest." The smaller male tosses the needle away, then heads towards the door- again, gesturing them to follow.
Leaving the room, Odiyaka looks around quickly for Kosuru. Not seeing the spider, he chooses not to go searching in fear of getting lost as well. He is sure Naruto will notice and seek the spider later, and then he can help. Chi ignored the black wolf's obvious concern for the spider; it is obvious that spider can take care of itself.
They slow with the healer as they approach another door. Quickly, the man unlocks and opens it for them. With slight hesitation Chi enters, quickly accompanied by Odiyaka. The man smiles, "Please stay in here, I will bring food for you and….," he pauses, "the child." Nether wolf liked that pause, if it were not for the fact he saved Naruto, Odiyaka would have attacked the man. Chi, too, would have liked to hurt the man, but with a fragile blond on his back- the white wolf cannot risk attacking.
At some point during their walk the little whiskered child had fallen asleep or passed out. It is no surprise, honestly. Naruto was, and may still be, in pain.
Ignoring the bed, Chi finds an empty spot and lays; Odiyaka comes next to him and checks on the little blond. He, too, lies down. Naruto makes no indication of waking, so they both just lie there, ready to attack anyone who comes through the door, or comfort Naruto if he is to wake.
The whiskered child snuggles unconsciously into Chi's fur. Odiyaka places his head down miserably, this had to happen now, didn't it? (Im)patiently, they wait for the healer to return with some food for the blond- he needs it. They ate, but he has not.
After what seems like hours, the door finally opens. Odiyaka growls low, threatening anyone outside. The smaller male enters, finally returning from his food trip. "Hello," he says casually. Both of them eye the bag in the man's hand. It smells like food, but it could be something else… They don't trust him, not at all.
However, the healer just smiles at their clear distrust. "I'll leave the food here," remarks the healer as he sets the bag near them, and retreats to the door. Quickly, he follows up, "Some men will be by with food for you, do try not to kill them." Chi huffs a growl as the man leaves.
Naruto still has yet to wake. Out of concern, Odiyaka licks his face- almost to reassure himself the blond that everything will be alright. After a few moments, the door opens again. This time, however, there are other people; it's not the healer or the older male.
The men carry in something, something that smells delicious. Cautiously, they set the large hammock like cloth down, revealing large piles of raw meat. Both resist their hunger and wait for the men to leave, but it seems to take forever. The men try to undo the strings that had been holding the top together, until Chi growls, making the men scurry away.
Chi moves to the bed. Very, VERY, carefully, he rolls Naruto onto the bed. Odiyaka decides he wasn't careful enough, and nips his face. Chi huffs, but does nothing more.
Satisfied with his inspection of the blond, they both begin devouring the meat, deer meat, apparently.
Itachi leads his squad into the forest, back the way they had come. The team had been less than happy to be dragged here as well. The previous squad had Sharingan no Kakashi, who could have, probably, done this mission on his own. However, the Hokage order them to assist the other team, so they must.
Boar, Puma, and Firefly follow behind him. They all are clearly displeased by being led by someone as young as himself. Silently, he lands on a branch on the edge of the clearing. No Naruto. Actually, no other life forms anywhere near here. Doing a quick scan, he comes to a conclusion. There was a chase, there had to have been…
Then, he notices something on the ground. Flowers? These… were not there before. Glancing one eye at the still sleeping wolves, he jumps down to the little blue flowers. Little blue flowers… with yellow and white centers. 'Forget-me-nots.' Why are they only in this small little patch? It makes no sense.
Firefly lands next to him accompanied by Boar. Puma stays in the tree to keep watch. Weasel ignores them, and runs his hands over the small patch. Blood. Small smears of blood are on his glove, and now on the front of the flowers. However, he cannot smell it, Naruto must have been through here.
Turning his attention back to the flowers, Itachi separates the flowers, on the ground where they had grown is soaked in blood. The underside of the flowers, too, are coated in a thin layer of the small blonds vital fluid.
The Weasel looks into the forest and sees another tiny blue flower… then another. They must have gone that way. He signs his findings over to his team; they nod and follow his lead. Firefly had tried to protest, but Itachi ignored him.
A sudden feeling of uneasiness washes over him and makes his stomach knot. 'Please, be alright, Naruto.'
Naruto slowly opens his eyes, tiredness still clouding his mind. With a small groan, the blond tries to pick himself up, but ultimately fails. The strain is too great for his limbs, especially after being poisoned. Suddenly, something warm and wet runs across his face.
Odiyaka lets out a small yip, Chi trots over with a bag in his mouth. The white wolf sets it down on the bed, and then slips his nose under the blond to help him up. Naruto smiles gratefully, "Thank you." His voice is rough, and it hurts his throat to speak.
He looks around quickly; this must be the room they intend him to stay in. It's… scary to be honest. Dark brick lines the walls, and the only light comes from two torches that do not emit much light. With a small shiver, the blond decides to ignore the room decor.
Trying to move his leg, he notices something. It's doesn't hurt, and, he just now noticed, he is covered with a blanket. There is no way either of the wolves could have covered him… perhaps, but it is very unlikely.
Naruto pushes the cover off of his injured leg; it is completely bandaged and appears to have been healed. How long had he been out? Where are those men? And, just who are they?
Speak of the devil, a few seconds later the door opens to reveal the healer. The man is carrying a medical aid kit and a tray with… something on it. He can't make it out.
"Your finally up, ne?" Naruto blushes, the man has an amazing voice. It's so smooth, it sounds caring…
Knocking himself out of whatever… that was, he answers, "Yes." The healer smiles kindly before coming over to him. The wolves do not let the man out of their sight, they watch him like hawks. The healer sets the tray on the side table and hands the blond a cup of water.
Naruto drinks just enough for his throat to stop hurting, and the man takes the cup. Now that he can see the tray, it appears to have food on it. Rice balls. When his stomach growls, the little blond blushes in mild embarrassment.
The man chuckles, "You can eat as soon as I change your bandages." Naruto nods, and turns towards the man so that his legs are hanging off of the bed. The healer kneels down and undoes the wrapping, then turns the blonde's leg a little to see the back. He hums while he uses a chakra coated hand to check over the child's leg. "Your healing is incredible…," his voice trails off, confusing the blond for a moment.
Then, it clicks; the man is asking his name. "A-Ah, N, Naruto." The healer smiles up at him and then proceeds to rewrap the blonde's leg with new bandages.
"U-Um, How long have I been out?" he asks.
The healer does not look up from his work, "Just two days. I'm quite surprised you woke up so quickly." After taping the end of the wrap he finishes his thought, "That is nasty poison. You should not be able to talk, let alone sit up, after just two days." Naruto blushes; he has always had amazing healing abilities, but for someone to acknowledge it… The blond has no control over his healing, but it still feels good for someone to notice.
The man then allows Naruto to pull his legs back onto the bed, and gives him the tray. He whispers a small 'thanks', and the man prepares to leave.
"I see he is awake," the other, 'bigger' man states as he enters the room.
Kabuto nods respectfully, "Hai, only a few minutes ago." Then, he grabs his med kit and leaves. Odiyaka hates this man, he feels evil. Chi also tenses, ready to attack. The elder male simply ignores them, "How are you feeling?"
"Naruto."
The man smiles, "Naruto-kun." The blond suddenly busts into a full-faced blush, no one has ever used on honorific in his name- never! Had the tray not been on his lap he would have pulled the covers over his head in an attempt to hide. But, instead, he is just sitting there stiffly trying to avoid eye contact without saying anything.
The man tilts is head, "Did I offend you?"
Naruto gasps, "N-No!" The blush fades a little, "I- No one has…." His voice becomes smaller with every word, "u-used an honorific with my name before." The blond plays with the end of the blanket, and tries not to look up at the man.
The other male smiles again, "Well, how are you feeling?"
"Fine, my leg doesn't hurt anymore…"
The man nods, "Well, if you can walk I can show you around." He turns to the door, "I think you will like the garden, Naruto-kun." With that, he attempts to leave, but a small voice calls out to him.
"W-Wait!" The whiskered child blushes once again at his sudden outburst.
The man looks back at the blond, "Yes?"
Naruto takes this opportunity, "Th-thank you for helping me…" The man nods, and then Naruto asks a question, "What's your name?"
The man's eye flashes for a moment; Chi catches it, and narrows his eyes. "Me?" The blond nods. "My name is…"
~
The small path of flowers had ended quickly, but they are able to track the spy by cracked branches that the trees could not hide, also, they found kunai. It's not very often but every few yards of travel they find another scatter of kunai.
Weasel does another quick scan of his surroundings; they have yet to find the blond, and cannot locate their fellow ANBU. Itachi can feel a small chakra signature, Wolf. The other ANBU's chakra is too calm for him to be conscious. Making a few quick signs to his teammates, he quickens the pace.
Within seconds they reach their destination, and are met with a gruesome sight. Firefly goes to identify the bodies and salvage something to bring back to the families. Boar helps him.
Puma again, stays in the trees to keep watch, and Itachi rushes to check on Wolf. The man is still breathing, luckily, and does not appear to be harmed in any way. 'Odd,' he thinks. Kakashi should have at least a scratch considering the damage done to his teammates.
Quickly, he undoes what had been done and Kakashi groans. Boar and Firefly finish sealing away their dead comrades, and look over to Itachi. The younger male coaxes Wolf into consciousness.
Wolf suddenly launches into a report, "We… where, G-nn, Pursuing the spy…" Gently, Itachi helps the man up. "We were attacked and…," he looks miserably over to where his fellow ANBU had previously been.
"Who attacked you? Comrades of the spy?"
Wolf looks confused for a moment before speaking again, grimly, "It was…"
.
.
.
~"Orochimaru"~
(Down here, I will put a small note concerning the story; it will never be very long. I have put up a poll where you can vote on who you want to be the main love interests in the story; I'm rooting for NaruSasu NaruIta/ItaNaru and NaruKabu/KabuNaru… IDK, I never wrote a story with Kabuto as a love interest…. Ma, I'll only add it if you want. I can write a separate story for that.)