Friend or Foe?
Coughing, John laid back on his bed. He had decided that 5 Great Fireball Jutsus' in a row was quite enough, he had almost burned a nearby house to ashes on that last attempt. Besides, he might attract the attention of some villagers.
However, it was far too late for that.
"GET OUT OF OUR WAY!!!" Naruto, the blond, knuckleheaded Genin shouted at the crowd of villagers crowding in front of the hospital; each wondering what in the world that huge blaze of fire was.
Ironically, the villagers living in the house that almost got burned to a crisp spearheaded the mob of people, pounding on the door of the Konoha hospital, demanding entrance.
Finally, the door was abruptly opened, causing the crowd elbowing the door to crash through.
Through all this chaos, a dark, lone figure sitting under a tree in the very back of the crowd smirked, and disappeared.
On his semi-comfortable bed, John heard the faint sound of people shouting and screaming. Since his annoying headache was gone, thanks to his convenient healing technique, he stood up and walked out of his room.
He cautiously searched to the left and to the right outside his fourth floor room. After seeing nothing in the long, monotonous corridors of the hospital, he walked toward the stairs, and started down them.
He performed a careful inspection of the floors below him, but discovered nothing unusual, except for the occasional mouse, which he took a bit of delight in scaring by means of a stick lying on the floor.
Chuckling to himself, he trotted down the remaining flight of stairs to the first floor, when he heard the noises of a shouting crowd getting louder… and louder… and louder.
His curiosity intensified, he arrived at the final step and jogged out.
He heaved open the concrete doors of the hospital, and was welcomed by a couple of villagers crashing headlong into him, knocking him down.
John lay on the ground for a few moments on his belly, not quite sure what had happened. Then he felt the movement of people on top of him.
The compiled weight of the villagers wearing him down, John slowly rolled out of the human haystack and onto the side.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" John yelled at the villagers, who were in the process of busily picking themselves up.
"Kid, you'd better get out of here." A sullen voice warned him.
For a moment, John thought the Kyuubi was speaking to him once again, but immediately banished the thought, the accent was too different. Besides, it sounded too… well… lazy.
After failing to find the source of the voice, John asked out loud "Who's there?"
"Look up."
The confused teenager turned his head upwards, and noticed a masked, gray-haired man in a Jounin vest staring straight at him. Or at least he looked like he was staring at him, this man had only one eye showing.
Suspicious, John asked "Who are you?"
"Does it matter? I told you to get out of here."
"Why?"
"Because there were 5 consecutive Fireball jutsus that was performed in this hospital, a feat which only the most accomplished of ninja could do. There is probably a dangerous one in this hospital, and we want to get as many people away as possible. My partners are evacuating everyone else out too. You'd best get out of here."
John just stood there, thinking. "Wait a minute, five fireball jutsus… That means…"
Johns eyes widened in amazement, then he quickly assumed a normal face again.
"Alright, I'll get out of here like you say."
"Good. Now go."
John dashed toward the back door of the hospital, all the time pondering who the Shinobi was, and contemplating his words.
In a puff of smoke, a quiet figure appeared in a tree, overlooking the back door of the Konoha hospital.
"Anytime now…"
John ran through the back door, and sat down near the wall, not realizing that in the tree in front of him, someone was watching him.
"Man, that was cool! I'm being mistaken for a dangerous ninja, I can do something that even some of the best shinobi can't do, how can it get any better?"
This sudden revelation was dampened as he realized that he was still in his hospital gown.
"Aw, man! My clothes must still be in my room!"
He stood up and started to go through the back door once again, when his senses were instantaneously brought back to attention by the sound of a leaf being crunched behind the tree.
All of a sudden, a flash of light blinded John, and he felt a solid object hit his head, hard.
He fell toward the ground, half-unconscious, and felt a large hand feel his forehead.
In his mind, John imagined a large, burly robber with a sword in his hand, ready to stab him.
However, as much as he wanted to struggle, he couldn't get up, much less stop the assailant.
As John fought a losing battle for his consciousness, he heard a snickering voice whisper a single word:
"Bingo."
Then all was still.
John awoke, groggy, in what seemed to be a dimly-lit house, lying on a bed much more comfortable than his hospital one.
"Finally, you're awake." A sharp voice pierced the silence.
"What? Who's there?" John shouted, half-alert, half-asleep.
"Sorry for hitting you on the head, you wouldn't let me near you any other way."
"What? What are you saying?"
Out of a dark corner of the room, a dark-haired, tall, well-built figure stood up and walked toward John.
"You should relax, you'll hurt yourself otherwise."
"ANSWER MY QUESTION! WHO ARE YOU????"
After a moment of silence, the dark figure finally spoke.
"My name… is Ikimaru Tarimi.
