Sasuke stood up to stretch and take the tray of food back to the lobby to be cleaned. Once he reached for the tray, a knock sounded at the door. Kakashi immediately placed an illusion over Naruto to make him disappear, then henged himself with Sakura and Sasuke doing the same. Sasuke went to answer the door, opening it just enough to see who was on the other side.
"Room service." A little lady stood with fresh towels and sheets in her arms, surprised to see the furious glare on the young Uchiha's face. Startled, she took a step back, fear plastered on her face.
"We would like to skip the room service. We are checking out of this room shortly." Sasuke stated. "Thank you for your time." He quickly shut the door and relocked it, before turning back to the group. "We need to go, now."
"Agreed. I'll go check us out of the room. Sakura, can we carry Naruto as he is now, or should we try the stasis scroll again?" Kakashi asked her.
"Let's try to avoid the stasis scroll. It hasn't been used for such a purpose before and I don't know how it will affect Naruto's condition, especially since the Kyubi isn't healing him at the moment. I can carry him, but you and Sasuke will need to fight if anything happens."
"Sasuke, you'll be on point for the journey. I'll take the rear. We need to go at full speed and get to Konoha immediately." Kakashi left the teens and headed downstairs to the lobby to check the group out of the room. While he was waiting for the clerk to finish the paperwork, the copy cat ninja spotted some suspicious civilians hanging by the entrance of the hotel. They had scowls on their faces and seemed to be scanning every person that walked by them. Hurrying back upstairs, Kakashi shared his findings with Sasuke and Sakura.
"Let's take the roof then." Sakura suggested.
"If we take the roof, we become easy targets. We'll be out in the open with no where to blend in." Sasuke pointed out.
"The ninjas don't know what our Henges look like. The biggest problem is moving Naruto while he's unconscious. We can't drag him through town looking like he's dead." Kakashi commented, contemplating their options.
"Can we place a Genjutsu over him to make him invisible?" Sakura asked.
"It won't fool high level Genjutsu ninjas. We can't take that risk." Kakashi replied.
"Then why don't we put him in the stasis scroll until we get out of town? It won't be for very long and we can remove him as soon as it's safe to do so." Sasuke suggested.
"I don't want to put him at risk. What if it does more harm to him?" Sakura argued.
"Unless you have another suggestion, we don't have much of a choice at this point."
"It could end up killing him! We were lucky nothing happened the first time!"
"He could die now if we don't get him help soon!"
"ENOUGH" Kakashi ordered, snapping the two ninjas to attention. "Sakura, we don't have any other options. I'll place him in the stasis until we clear the town boundaries. You can take him from there. Now let's go." Kakashi pulled out the stasis scroll and sealed Naruto into it before returning the scroll into his vest. Sakura frowned but followed her teacher as they all henged and left the hotel. They passed the suspicious civilians, making sure to not bring any attention to themselves.
All over town, they spotted ninjas running around on the rooftops and henged ninjas investigating the different shops. The trio made their way through town, pretending to window shop and play the role of tourists to blend in with their surroundings. Once they made it out of town, they headed to the treetops and began running towards Konoha. About 5 miles outside of town, they stopped to make sure they weren't being followed. Deeming themselves safe for now, Kakashi removed Naruto from the stasis scroll and Sakura performed a quick scan on him to make sure he hadn't been harmed further.
"He's good. Let's go." Sakura scooped Naruto onto her back in a piggy back style and ran in between Sasuke and Sakura. It took seven hours to reach Konoha, the trio rushed through the gates with the guards from the gate chasing them due to a lack of a clearance check. Arriving at the hospital, Kakashi summoned Tsunade with a dog messenger while he dealt with the guards. Tsunade arrived 5 minutes later, breathless and pale.
"Is it true Kakashi? You found him?" She whispered, her eyes searching the room. They landed on the pale blonde and she choked on her sob as she approached him, her hands shaking as she gently ran her fingers through his hair. Tears ran down her face as she took looked him over, noting his injuries and the severity of the torture that had occurred to him in his absence from the village. "I'm so sorry Naruto."
"Tsunade, can you help him?" Sakura asked as she watched her mentor begin to break down.
"Of course! Get me Shizune! I'll need you as well. I want a full medical team in Room 3 in ten minutes and I need the Nara clan. NOW!" Tsunade rattled off instructions as she set about preparing for the next task. She scooped Naruto up from Sakura and placed him in a hospital bed before she began to wheel him off to the medical examination room. Within 10 minutes, Tsunade and all of the medical Konoha staff was in surgery, racing to save the Jinchuriki of Konoha. Kakashi and Sasuke had to wait outside, unable to do anything but sit and wonder how the procedure was going.
After 5 hours, Tsunade came out, sending the rest of the medical team off to rest. Kakashi and Sasuke stood up and went over to her, worry on the younger ninja's face while the elder tried to keep his face neutral to avoid showing his concern. "He's resting. I managed to heal most of the physical injuries, but he'll be on bed rest for at least 3 more weeks. I don't know when he'll wake up. Sakura is with him now. You can go in." Tsunade answered before either of them could question her. Sasuke rushed into the room, but Kakashi stayed where he was.
"How bad is it really?" He asked.
"He's lucky to still be breathing, especially because Kyubi wasn't healing him. I don't know what happened to him, but heads will roll. I have some research to do to figure out how to restore the Kyubi's healing factor for Naruto. That should speed up the healing time. In the meantime, he'll be under 24/7 surveilince and this is a rank S mission. No one is to know that Naruto is here. I want to find the ninjas that did this to him and figure out what they were trying to do to him." Tsunade stormed off, Shizune following her after taking a quick glance at the silver-haired ninja. Once the two had left, Kakashi closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was listening that his student was still alive. Then he took a breath and walked into Naruto's room.