Disclaimer-I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
ATTENTION: Because I posted two chapters at the same time.
I am sorry for the delay, but health issues, along with work and other things prevented me from getting these chapters done as soon as I had hoped. Forgive me, but I have a life, and as much as I would like to, I cannot devote all of my time to fanfiction.
Last Time on Parents Returned
Naruto suddenly stopped, as he felt his body seize up, and his eyes widened, and his body was filled with so much pain.
And in the corner of his vision, he saw the blade of a sword passing through the left side of his chest.
Kushina and Minato could only watch in horror, before Kushina screamed, "NO!"
Present
Though it was only a few seconds, it felt like an eternity as Minato and Kushina stared at the scene before them.
It all happened so fast, too fast for either of them to stop it.
As fast as it occurred, it was over, and now they stared.
But as fast as it occurred, they responded even faster, "NO!" Kushina screamed for a second time as she shot forward, a red blur flying through the air.
Minato had only been milliseconds slower as he pulled out his kunai, ready to cut down the three Shinobi before him.
The three Shinobi turned towards them, and their forms became clear.
Standing, holding the blade which had pierced through Naruto's back, was a tall male with smooth, chin length purple hair, and grey colored eyes, the bangs of his hair hanging just above his eyebrows. He wore a green short sleeve shirt, the collar and sleeves being white, and he wore two black arm sleeves on his lower arms, and he had long grey pants.
Beside him was a fair skinned woman, with light blue eye which was up in a spiky ponytail, the longer strands of hair framing her facial structure. Her eyes were dark in color, and her skin was fair. She wore a green dress with her left sleeve being longer than the right sleeve. She also wore a red turtle neck with a fluffy collar, and brown gloves.
Flanking the man holding the sword, was none other than Kabuto Yakushi, a Konoha Genin from the Chunin Exams. His white hair pulled back in a long ponytail, his black rimmed glasses glinting in the sun. He stared back at Minato and Kushina with his onyx eyes as he readied himself for an incoming strike.
The man with the sword saw them coming, and withdrew his blade, causing a stream of blood to erupt from Naruto's back.
The sight of this caused both Minato and Kushina such distress, that they seemed to hesitate to strike.
The sword wielding male suddenly grabbed Naruto by his hair, and without a single hint of effort, flung the blond son of the Namikaze's at them.
Minato was able to respond quickest, dropping his kunai, he shot forward, grabbing Naruto as he fell.
Minato skidded ten feet on his knees, as he came to a halt. Kushina skidded right next to Minato, and she worriedly looked over Naruto, only to gasp in horror as she saw the wound.
She could see right through him…and it had done through his heart.
Kushina's teeth grit as she turned towards the three Shinobi, swinging her sword as she charged chakra into it, as she leapt at them screaming, "I will fucking kill you!"
The woman of the group saw the incoming Kushina, and quickly ran through hand signs.
Suddenly, out of the ground, massive purple crystals erupted, splitting the ground asunder, blocking Kushina from moving forward.
She did not stop, and she swung her katana with such force, and charged it with so much chakra, that as she swung it, the blade immediately began to cut through the crystals.
'SCHINK…CRACK' the crystals split, and began to crack rapidly as they fell over, even as Kushina barreled through them, swinging at where the three Shinobi were.
Only to find that they had vanished…and taken Sasuke with them.
Kushina stared in shock, before her face twisted into rage as she screamed, "Aaaaaahhh!" in her maddened state, she readied to go after them, following whatever chakra signature they left behind.
"Kushina!"
Only to stop as she heard Minato yell to her, but it was not him calling her name that stopped her.
It was the desperation in his voice that stopped her.
She was immediately confused, and she turned around…and she saw Minato cradling Naruto, the red youki of the Kyuubi leaking off of him, as Minato stared down at Naruto with a look that could only be described as one thing.
Horror.
Immediately, she regained her senses, and ran over to Minato and Naruto, looking down at her Sochi, "M-Minato, what is…" as she looked down at Naruto, she realized truly why Minato sounded so desperate.
The hole in Naruto's chest wasn't closing.
Minato stammered, "T-the Kyuubi's y-youki is r-responding to h-his wound but…i-it won't close."
Kushina's eyes widened horribly, and suddenly she shot up, "We have to get to Konoha, now!"
Minato nodded quickly, and grabbed Naruto, before he grabbed one of his Hiraishin kunai out of his pocket, "Grab on to me Kushina, now!"
Kushina did as told.
Minato then looked down at the kunai, and poured his chakra into it, causing the seal to glow brightly, before they were both enveloped in a golden flash.
Had they lingered, they would have seen a black box rolling down the edges of the crystal spire, before landing in the water below, writing adorning the side of the box.
'Here is where two souls met their fall, where borders formed, and wars were fought. Now that you have reached this bend, at long last, your journey ends.'
Konoha Hospital
The members of the retrieval team had fortunately been picked up by Kushina and Minato's clones as they returned to Konoha, they had immediately been sent to the Konohagakure Hospital, where they were undergoing intensive treatment for their injuries.
Shikamaru was currently being fed intravenously, the fluid being a nutrient which promoted the regeneration of chakra. The damage he had done to his coils would render him bedridden for weeks, if not months. The coils had been scorched by his very chakra due to him trying to use chakra he simply didn't have.
Choji was suffering a massive concussion; his skull had split, and was barely being held together. Medical shinobi were working around the clock to make sure he didn't start to bleed out. His jaw had fractured, which had been fixed thanks to some crude bolts and medical ninjutsu.
Kiba was no less worse for wear; the branch that had embedded itself in his shoulder had left a lot of splinters in the muscle tissue, which made sealing up the wound difficult, as they had to remove all of the splinters before closing it up.
Neji's jaw had to be reset in place, and the multiple stab wounds he had received needed to be closed up. Fortunately, the stab wounds were smooth, and not jagged, and nothing had embedded themselves in the wounds, which made closing them a great deal easier.
Their families had been notified, and immediately, their rooms were crowded with their loved ones.
In Neji's room, Hinata had brought a basket of Lavender flowers, and set them aside his bed, frowning as she looked down at herself.
To her side, Yakumo Kurama was standing by her. She had come, thinking Naruto would arrive by the time they got there. On her way, she met up with Hinata on her way to Neji's room.
Hinata sighed heavily as she looked down at the unconscious Neji, and slowly began to stand.
Yakumo gently placed her hand on Hinata's shoulder, "He'll be fine. The injuries weren't too bad, and Tsunade herself saw to the treatment."
Hinata nodded, a small smile coming to her features.
As soon as word came that the retrieval team had returned, Tsunade had arrived to begin healing the squad.
Though it was pretty clear that she had not come for any of the people currently at the hospital.
Hinata followed Yakumo out the door, and both were surprised to see Temari there, talking to one of the doctors.
The doctor seemed annoyed, "Look, I told you, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze has yet to arrive at the hospital, for all we know he isn't even injured."
Temari was not amused as she pointed to the hospital rooms, "With this? Do you honestly think he isn't injured?"
The doctor was starting to lose his patience, "Look, I have multiple patients to care for, I can't look for the honorable son right now. I am sorry." the doctor walked past her, shaking his head in annoyance as he returned to work.
Temari was glaring at the doctors back as Hinata and Yakumo walked up to her, "So?"
Temari turned to them, and sighed, "No, Naruto hasn't shown up yet."
Yakumo bit her lower lip, "I hope he is alright."
Hinata nodded as well.
Temari sighed heavily, "There's nothing more we can do here, and soon enough the doctors are going to kick us out of here for 'disturbing the peace' or something. We should go wait by the gate, wait for him to show.
Hinata and Yakumo nodded their heads, and followed after Temari.
As they walked down, Hinata and Temari kept glancing at one another, each averting their gaze when the other looked back.
This quickly got on Yakumo's nerves, until she finally snapped as soon as they reached the lobby, "Alright that is enough, both of you!"
Hinata and Temari were both shocked at Yakumo's outburst, and simply stared.
Yakumo stared at them both with a stern gaze, "You both like Naruto, I get that, but all you two have been doing is dancing around the whole issue. Either you talk to him about the situation, or move on, because right now, you are just staring at him from afar and fighting each other. You both seem to forget that it doesn't matter if 'you' want him, if Naruto is unwilling to give you a chance then your little 'contest' with one another will mean nothing. Just tell him the truth…" she sighed and turned around, "Who knows…maybe he will give you both a chance." she said as she continued towards the lobby exit.
Hinata and Temari looked at each other one last time, before lowering their gaze and following after Yakumo.
Yakumo looked back at them, "Come on, maybe if we get to the gate we can see Naruto-"
Suddenly, the lobby was enveloped in a flash of golden light, and everybody was forced to cover their eyes.
As the light died down, they all turned to its source, which was the front of the hospital entranceway, and they noticed that underneath the entrance sign, there was a glowing seal right out of sight, only visible due to the fact it was glowing.
But that wasn't what drew their attention, no, it was the Yondaime and his wife…holding their son, who was covered in blood.
Everyone stared in horror at the sight before them.
That is, until Minato yelled, "I need intensive care here, now!" he yelled with such force as he unconsciously released a burst of chakra, that all of the windows began to rattle from the force of it.
The doctors regained their senses and piled over each other as they grabbed Naruto, and threw him on a stretcher.
"What the hell is-Naruto!"
Everybody turned to see Tsunade and Shizune running towards Naruto, who had been strapped to a stretcher, even as the Kyuubi's youki began to leak off in further amounts.
Tsunade leaned over Naruto, her eyes widening as her hand shot to her mouth as she saw the severity of the wound, "By kami, why isn't-"
Kushina interrupted, "Save him damn it!" she screamed loud enough to cause the nearby doctors to cover their ears, and cower as they saw her chakra begin to flow off her body.
Tsunade nodded and quickly covered her hands in medical chakra.
One of the doctors spoke up, "Tsunade, we need to get him to-"
Shizune snapped at the doctor, "Does he look like he can wait to get to the ICU? Help her damn it!"
The doctor jerked back, before nodding as he covered his own hands in medical chakra, as did Shizune and several others.
They watched, waiting for the wound to close…nothing.
They could not understand what was happening, they could feel the Kyuubi's youki, it should have healed him, but if anything the youki seemed to just make the wound worse.
Tsunade grit her teeth as sweat beaded down her brow as she focused her chakra, not on the wound, but on Naruto's heart.
She looked inside the wound, hoping that it was working.
She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the heart begin to knit back together.
Shizune saw, and looked at the doctors, "Focus all medical chakra on the heart, that's the damaged organ, we can fix the rest afterwards."
They all did as ordered, and focused all their medical ninjutsu on his heart.
As this was occurring, Yakumo, Temari, and Hinata stared in shock and horror at what was occurring before them.
Minato and Kushina watched, both waiting to see what happened, their faces filled with worry, concern for their child clear on their face.
The wound in the heart closed up completely, the only thing signifying it was there, was a small scar on his heart.
Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief…until she noticed something.
Naruto's heart wasn't beating.
Tsunade's eyes widen, and she snapped her head towards Shizune, "Get him to ICU now, now!" the doctors quickly responded to her orders and pushed his stretcher to the ICU.
Kushina stared in horror, "T-Tsunade w-what is going on?"
Tsunade turned to Kushina, "He's in cardio-pulmonary arrest, I have to get his heart beating again, now!" she ran after the doctors as they headed to ICU.
Minato and Kushina stood there for all of a second, before they ran after her, panic covering their features.
They both ran past Yakumo, Temari, and Hinata, who were all too dumbstruck to react.
Yakumo just stared forward in horror as her legs trembled, as she slowly fell to her knees.
Hinata and Temari were in no better sorts, but Hinata broke out of the stupor quickly, and ran after Naruto, brushing by Temari, jarring her back to reality.
Temari shook her head, and looked over at Yakumo, "Y-Yakumo…"
Yakumo raised her hand, "G-go…go t-to ICU, I-I'll get t-the others." she stared with a trembling voice.
Temari just stared at Yakumo, before she nodded her head, and ran after Hinata, quickly catching up.
Yakumo slowly began to stand as she stumbled towards the door, a vacant look on her face as she felt the world around her begin to fall apart.
ICU
Naruto's stretcher was carted in to ICU, with Tsunade, Shizune, and six other Medical Shinobi all surrounding him, hooking him up to a heart rate monitor as they all surrounded him. Tsunade began to pour more Medical Chakra into her palms, which began to arc as she pressed them against Naruto's chest.
Naruto's body jolted as the heart rate monitor began to show a heartbeat.
Tsunade quickly turned to the other doctors, "Perform a diagnostic jutsu on him, now! We need to find out what's wrong now, and fix it." she kept her palms above his heart, ready to jumpstart it again.
Immediately, Shizune and two other doctors covered their hands in medical chakra, and they began to drag their hands across his body, hovering just centimeters off of him.
Shizune's palms glowed and she looked at Tsunade, "There is something in his system, some sort of poison…it…" she seemed a loss for words as she looked between Tsunade and Naruto.
Tsunade stared at Shizune, "Well, what is it?"
Shizune bit her lower lip, and turned back to Tsunade, "It is inhibiting the Kyuubi's chakra…it's stopping it from healing Naruto's wounds."
…
…
…
"W-what?"
Tsunade and Shizune's gaze turned towards the entrance to the ICU, where they saw Kushina, Minato, Hinata, and Temari, standing there with their mouths agape.
Tsunade looked at Shizune, "Shizune get them out of here, now!"
Shizune nodded and stopped scanning Naruto's body and walked over to the entrance, "We need you to leave now." she tried to gently push them out of the ICU.
Suddenly, the heart rate monitor began to flat line.
Tsunade cursed as she sent another shock to Naruto's heart, "Damn it! Ready a Shosen Jutsu, if Kyuubi won't heal him we have to, move it!"
The doctors immediately followed her commands, only for them to jump back as the Kyuubi's youki interacted with their jutsu.
One of the doctors turned to Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, the Kyuubi's youki-"
Tsunade snapped, "I saw damn it!" she cursed as she looked at Minato, "Minato!"
Minato's head shot up, and turned towards Tsunade.
"Get me a seal to suppress the Kyuubi's youki, now, or we are going to lose him!"
Minato needed no further instruction. He ran forward, and quickly began to draw up a seal, which he attached to Naruto's forehead, and three more on his chest and abdomen. The Kyuubi's youki began to diminish as this occurred.
Suddenly, the heart rate monitor began to flat line again.
Tsunade's eyes widened and she cursed as she tried to restart his heart, while yelling at the doctors, "Shosen Jutsu now!"
The doctors and Shizune quickly began to perform Shosen Jutsu, as Minato was pushed away by the doctors so they could try and save Naruto.
Naruto's heart beat twice, before the machine showed it flat lining again.
Tsunade cursed, and performed the jutsu again, and looked at the heart rate monitor, the heart beat once, then twice, before it began to flat line again.
Tsunade's eyes were filled with panic as she tried again to jumpstart his heart.
The scene was beheld by Kushina, Minato, Hinata, Temari, and nurses who came to bring medical equipment.
The heart rate monitor showed his heart beat once, before it began to flat line again.
Tsunade's hands began to tremble as she stared down at Naruto, and she pushed her palms against his chest,and she performed the jutsu again to try and restart his heart.
She, and the others watching stared at the heart rate monitor in muted silence, waiting.
Nothing.
Tsunade began to panic as she tried again, and she stared at the heart rate monitor.
Nothing.
She bit her lip as she tried again, and she stared at the heart rate monitor, waiting, for anything.
Nothing, not a single heartbeat.
The sound of the flat line was deafening, the whole room went silent, the sound echoed into the halls of the hospital, as passing patients and staff saw the Yondaime and his wife looking into the ICU.
Staring at the bed, which held the body of their dead son.
Tsunade stared down at Naruto's body…his lifeless body. The gravity of that sunk in as Tsunade fell to her knees, and she closed her eyes, as silent tears fell from her eyelids.
In the doorway, the faces of the Yondaime and his wife, were filled with horror.
The eyes of the two young girls, were filled with despair, as Hinata fell to her knees, as she watched as her whole world began to crumble.
Minato could only stare, as he felt his legs buckle under the weight of his own body, until he could no longer bare to hold his own weight, as he felt his knees bend, and as they hit the cold floor of the hospital room.
Kushina stared at Naruto's body, and with a great deal of effort, she began to walk forward, and she began to tremble as she reached forward.
The doctors, and Shizune moved aside, as Kushina reached for Naruto, and gently placed her hand on his chest.
Nothing, not a single heartbeat.
Tears instantly began to stream down her face, as the gravity of the whole situation came crashing down on her.
Her lips spread apart as she let out a loud wail, "NO!" as she fell to her knees, her face pressing against Naruto's chest, as she began to sob, her tears, "No, no, no!" she yelled into his chest, her voice muffled as she sobbed uncontrollably.
Her only child, her Sochi, the one who had freed her, and Minato from Orochimaru's control simply by existing.
Was dead.
Before you start sending me death threats, please read the next chapter.
In addition, I am sorry about how I did this, but I had written myself into a corner. I had no way to continue this story except this way. So, I am sorry if this is not what you wanted, but this was the corner I was backed into.