Chapter 11:
Shattered

She was tired and battered and really needed a shower. There was a bandage on her cheek, bandages on her left forearm, and more bandages around her side that were hidden underneath the plain hospital nightgown. But Kushina was totally numb to her pain and exhaustion.

…Why?

The Yondaime lay in a hospital bed. Aside from small, irritated fang marks on his neck, there wasn't a scratch on him. The various monitoring machines that tracked his vital signs detected nothing wrong with him.

But he might as well be brain-dead.

Orochimaru… Her fingers traced the complete lines of the seal that glowed malevolently on his forehead. Of course it was Orochimaru…

The fact that the snake bastard was dead brought her little comfort. The seal was complete now and the Hokage was worse than ever before. It was like losing him all over again, only worse.

She tried to look on the bright side. With the seal complete, Jiraiya had a much better chance of cracking it and successfully removing it completely and for good. So this nightmarish catatonic state that he was trapped in was only temporary. But…

What if he can't? What if Jiraiya still can't find a way to cancel out the seal? What if he's stuck like this forever?

Uzumaki Kushina was a tomboy. She did not cry often or easily. It was something of a point of pride for her.

But this was all just too much and so she buried her face into the unresponsive Hokage's shoulder and wept.

Nara Shikamaru trudged towards home after being cleared by the hospital. He hadn't suffered any serious injury, just bumps and bruises and moderate chakra exhaustion. All he needed was a few days rest, and he could get that just as easily at home as in the hospital and avoid taking up a bed that someone who was really injured could use.

It was like a waking dream as he traversed the village streets. Some parts of the village were pristine; untouched. The other parts were battered, broken, burned, and crushed to varying degrees. The fires that had been sparked by the fighting were mostly put out, but faint columns of smoke still wafted lazily up into the sky.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed as he passed a grim-looking family sweeping up the broken glass from their damaged store. I never imagined I'd see such a thing. Not here in Konoha.

Halfway home, he encountered some familiar faces.

"Shika-kun!" Ino cried, ambushing him from around a corner. "You're alive!"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as Ino grabbed onto him tightly in relief.

"Don't you call me 'troublesome' you lazy bum!" Ino snapped and smacked his shoulder.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Chouji waved as he rounded the same corner as Ino had moment earlier. "Want a chip?" he asked and offered his open snack bag.

"Sure," Shikamaru sighed and gratefully accepted the snack. "So what are you guys up to?"

"Just looking around," Chouji answered. "It's hard to believe what happened…"

"…And that we slept through the whole thing!" Ino sputtered. "Why didn't anyone break the genjutsu on us? We could've helped too!"

"How?" Shikamaru snorted. "You weren't dressed for a fight, you didn't have any weapons, and you're rookie genin. Against well-armed chuunin- and jounin-level ninja who are out to kill you, how long do you think you would've lasted?"

That struck Ino silent for a minute…but only a minute.

"Well…then…why did they wake you up, huh?" Ino huffed. "Why wake up a lazy ass like you to fight?"

"I was ready for a battle for one, and for another I was conveniently close by." Shikamaru sighed and started walking for home again. "You shouldn't be so disappointed at not getting to participate, Ino. If Asuma-sensei hadn't come to back me up, I would've died."

He thought back to his delaying action and shivered a little. He had eight adult Oto-nin pinned, a ninth loose and ready to kill him, and almost no chakra left. Only the surprise intervention of his usually laid back and peaceful sensei had kept his young life from ending prematurely.

It was the closest to dying he'd come so far.

His two friends moved to follow him. The blonde Yamanaka girl prattled on about her precious "Sasuke-kun" and how she was sure that he managed to do something wonderfully heroic during the battle and she wondered if he'd been hurt and so on. Chouji just munched on his potato chips.

The battle is over, Shikamaru brooded as he headed for his home and his very comfortable bed. But will there be a war?

Returning to consciousness was like swimming through syrup, but she managed it. When Hinata opened her pale violet eyes, she found herself staring up at the dreadfully familiar ceiling of the hospital. She remembered what had happened to her in the stadium and whimpered softly in despair.

I missed the end of Naruto-kun's fight. I missed all of Shino-kun's fight. I failed to support them…and now I'm back in the hospital again.

Hinata's eyes watered and she started to cry…only to be startled by something.

Her chest didn't hurt anymore.

It was sore, but there wasn't the painful dragging feeling when she breathed too deeply. The stabbing pains were gone. The faint tang of blood in her mouth was gone. She felt better than she had before her disastrous preliminary match.

I'm healed?

Severe injuries from the Gentle Fist style could be tricky to treat. Unless the medic was incredibly talented, it usually took several treatments to repair all the damage. The ANBU medic that she very vaguely remembered from the stadium…had he been able to heal all the damage at once?

"Hey Hinata, you're awake!"

She turned her head to see Kiba sitting in a chair next to her hospital bed with Akamaru perched on his head.

"K-Kiba-kun?"

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked worriedly.

"Y-yes," she squeaked. "I f-feel much b-better."

"Great!" he grinned. "Whoever that ANBU was, he's an awesome medic!" Kiba frowned a bit. "It's kinda weird… I went to go thank him for helping out, but…I dunno what happened, I got knocked out somehow. I don't think it was the genjutsu that got me."

"G-genjutsu?" Hinata blinked.

"Yeah, apparently there was a genjutsu cast on the entire stadium!"

The Hyuuga girl grew even more confused. "What?"

"It happened at the end of the first round when Sasuke was fighting that Gaara guy from Suna," Kiba explained. "Naruto won his match—I missed how he did it because I stayed with you while the ANBU was healing you, but Shino can tell us all about it. Sasuke was late, so his match was postponed. Shino's match didn't happen because that Kankuro kid withdrew at the last minute. Shikamaru beat Temari. And then Sasuke shows up and has his fight, and then there was this genjutsu."

Hinata took a moment to absorb all of this information. "W-why was there a g-genjutsu?"

"From what I hear, Sound and Sand used the exams as a cover to launch an invasion," Kiba informed her grimly. "They used the genjutsu to neutralize as many people as possible and then they attacked. There's damage all over the village and there have been a lot of casualties. Shino got in on some of the fighting and got poisoned. He'll be okay," the dog boy hastened to add, "but the nurses won't let me visit him until tomorrow."

The Hyuuga heir was dumbstruck as she struggled to wrap her mind around such shocking events.

What…what's going on?!

Hyuuga Neji sat in the stadium infirmary, his legs still tingly and numb and his jaw still throbbing from Naruto's hit. His uncle had come to see him earlier, but had since departed to look after the clan and the village in the aftermath of some surprise attack. A letter laid in his lap; he'd read it several times already.

His uncle, a Main Family member and Head of the entire clan had bowed to him when he had visited. And not just bowed, but supplicated himself on the floor as he delivered the letter and apologized. For a member of the Main Family to bow and apologized to a Branch Family member that way—Neji would never have imagined such a thing.

And the letter…

It was almost like his long dead father was in the room with him, whispering the words written on the page into his son's ear. His father begged for forgiveness. He explained why had not just accepted his fate as a sacrifice, but volunteered. He wished for Neji to blame no one for what happened. And he encouraged his child to forge his own way and not worry so much about being a member of the Branch Family.

Neji closed his eyes and carefully folded up the letter.

He thought about his clan. He thought about his cousin and how he had treated her. He thought about his sensei and his teammates—Lee and Tenten—and how he had treated them.

The prodigy did not like what he found.

Neji thought back to what Naruto had said ("The only thing that's holding you back is you!") and found that the Uzumaki was right.

Sasuke sat by his teammate's bedside and brooded. He should've been resting in his own bed across the room, but he'd scrapped together the energy to stagger over to a chair at the pink-haired girl's bed. He was too bored and troubled to just lie in his own bed.

Stupid annoying girl, he thought sourly as he watched her sleep and heal from her crush injuries. Why did she have to do something so stupid? She could've died…

And for what? For a crush, for an idealized vision, for a fantasy? It was all so damn stupid. He knew he had some crazy fangirls, but this was just insane.

Worse, she had to try and protect him. He wasn't strong enough. He'd taken too big of a gamble. And the both of them had needed the village idiot to save them.

The Uchiha shifted in his seat and turned to view the occupant of the bed next to Sakura's.

Naruto had a few bandages taped to his face, but otherwise looked fine as he slept off his chakra exhaustion. It was hard to believe that this fool had saved both of his more competent teammates. And yet he had, and done so in an impressive fashion.

How did he make all of those clones? How did he summon that giant toad? Where did he get the chakra to do all of that?!

Sasuke had no answers and that bothered him a lot.

I was hoping that the final exam would bring me some answers…and it's only given me bigger questions.

"And what is his condition?"

"Poor, but stable for the time being. He is physically exhausted, mildly malnourished and dehydrated, and his chakra reserves are dangerously depleted. His wounds are numerous but mainly superficial, and he may have been tagged once or twice by Orochimaru's snakes so we've given him some basic antidotes as a precaution. …With rest and fluids he should recover."

Morino Ibiki studied the doctor until the poor man started squirming. "Thank you, doctor. Continue treating him. Should he start to regain consciousness, sedate him. If his status changes, I want to know about it immediately."

"Of course, sir," the doctor nodded anxiously and hurried back to monitor his patient.

The scarred interrogation specialist stared emotionlessly through the one-way observation window as the nervous medical professional worked.

Uchiha Itachi…

Interrogating this infamous missing nin would be a challenge, and one he wasn't looking forward to. Ibiki loved his job and was very, very good at it, but Itachi was dangerous. Special precautions would be needed to make sure that the rogue Uchiha could not use his Sharingan eyes to escape or harm his interrogators.

Considering the crimes that Itachi was guilty of, under normal circumstances Ibiki would arrange to have the Hokage on hand. The man was a seal master—which would be highly useful in neutralizing the Sharingan—and the more he could learn about Itachi, the better a decision he could make on the rogue ANBU captain's fate. But circumstances were not normal, and so he sought to postpone the inevitable interview with Itachi as long as he could.

If it becomes necessary, I will ask for Jiraiya-sama's assistance, he decided as he turned away from the observation window to return to his more immediate duties…interrogating the few Oto-nin and Suna-nin who had been captured.

I wonder why he's come back… What are his motivations? Why would he slay Orochimaru as if he were still the loyal ANBU captain?

He shook his head and smoothed out his trench coat.

I will find out all that and more…eventually.

When Naruto woke up, it was dark. He tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but he sat up too fast and his aching head started to pound. Once his headache settled some, he got up more carefully and blundered around in the dark until he found a toilet.

After he finished relieving himself, he realized that he was in the hospital. He was battered and sore and physically exhausted, but he was alive. Everything seemed peaceful so the battle had to be over.

Naruto tried to find his way back to the hospital room that he'd woken up in, but he'd wandered down several different hallways in search of the restroom and he hadn't been awake enough to remember the route he'd taken. So he wandered aimlessly through the dimly lit halls in the vague hope of finding his way back eventually. It was very late—a wall clock he found said it was almost four in the morning—so he really didn't run into anyone.

Then he came across a room that had an ANBU posted by the door.

There were only two reasons that ANBU guarded hospital rooms. Either the occupant was an injured prisoner, or an important person in need of protection. So which case was this?

He didn't bother to ask the ANBU. He knew that they were supposed to speak as little as possible while on duty. If the patient wasn't somebody that he was supposed to see, the ANBU would stop him when he tried to peek inside.

He wasn't stopped.

The man in the room didn't seem to be badly hurt; he was just hooked up to a heart monitor and a few IVs. Naruto crept inside to see who it was and partly due to the poor light he didn't immediately recognize the man. When he realized who it was, he was shocked.

"Yondy-sama?!" he squeaked.

The Hokage didn't respond.

Naruto awkwardly clambered up onto the bed and shook the man's shoulder. "Yondy-sama?"

The blonde man simply stared unblinkingly off into the darkness at nothing.

An icy feeling penetrated his chest and settled deep in the pit of his stomach. "…Yondy-sama?"

Silence.

Terrified and reeling, Naruto curled up against the catatonic man's chest and tried not to cry.

What was wrong with the Yondaime? What had happened to the man who always smiled at him and would slip him candy behind his mother's back? Who could have possibly hurt the strongest ninja in the whole village?

Yondy-sama…

Naruto sniffled and carefully started checking over the Hokage for injuries. All he found was a small bandage on his neck, but it didn't seem that serious. And then he found something on the older man's forehead.

A seal?

It kind of looked like the "caged bird" seal that Neji had shown him, except it looked a whole lot uglier and meaner. It was red instead of green and seemed to glow a little in the dark room. He was certain that it hadn't been there before and even more certain that it was the cause of the problem.

I can fix this, he thought.

Closing his eyes, he carefully gathered the red chakra (as it was technically the next day his reserve of free chakra had been refilled). He made the dragon seal, the tiger, the snake, and then the ram. And then he jabbed his finger right in the middle of the heart of the mysterious seal.

When he had destroyed the mark on Sasuke's neck, the mark had blistered and oozed a little blood and then the black swirls were gone and Sasuke spent a day sleeping it off.

That didn't happen this time.

The red markings flared brighter and then blisters started to form all over the Hokage's forehead. The lines of the seal started to ooze blood…a lot of blood. The man's eyes closed, squeezed shut as if in agony, and his whole body started to shake and twitch. The rhythmically beeping heart monitor started to go crazy—

Someone hit Naruto off the bed and he went flying into the wall, smacking his head hard. He slumped to the floor and started to black out…

The lights came on and doctors and nurses rushed into the room. There were loud panicked calls for drugs and needles. Everyone was afraid.

…The last thing that Naruto thought was that he had made a terrible, terrible mistake.