I just want to apologize for the long awaited update. I started writing this chapter back in February but I got ill and I had been battling illnesses on and off since then. I have finally returned to good health and I am getting back into my writing.

I also have one little nitpick: Please do not leave "hurry and update" type of reviews on my story. I will update my stories when chapters are done. I never promised fast and consistent updates. Updates WILL BE sporadic as I write when I have time. Thank you.

There is also a small announcement at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 25: "It Doesn't Make It Easier"

Tenten walked through the infirmary checking on Shikamaru, Kiba and Shino. She had been at it for at least ten hours while she allowed Hinata to rest since she had been taking care of the three nonstop for nearly twenty-four hours. Tenten noticed that Shikamaru and Shino were starting to get better but Kiba's condition seemed to be getting worse. Shikamaru and Shino were awake and talking. Kiba was awake, but barely responding to Tenten. Kiba's skin looked pale and he was sweating immensely.

For some reason, Tenten felt the need to check Kiba to make sure everything was truely okay. Everybody just assumed he had the same thing as Shikamaru and Shino since he was part of the group that went to collect wood before the blizzard had hit. Tenten took off Kiba's shirt, which he didn't fight, and saw something she wished she had not seen.

"Oh crap," she said to herself.

"What's wrong with Kiba?" Shino asked. Shino was curious since he had been watching Tenten check over Kiba.

"Did you guys encounter Walkers when you went collecting wood?" asked Tenten.

"I didn't," Shino answered.

"Niether did I," Shikamaru answered as well. "Is Kiba going to be alright?"

Tenten looked at Shikamaru and shook her head.

Hinata opened her eyes to see the ceiling of the prison's basement. All she could remember was Tenten giving her a break from taking care of her two teammates and Shikamaru and coming to the basement, after that, nothing.

She sat up and looked around. Everyone was still asleep, accept Naruto, who was placing more wood into the furnace. Naruto turned around and matched her gaze, he smiled which caused Hinata to blush and quickly turned away. Naruto walked over to where Hinata was laying.

"I'm glad to see you're finally awake," Naruto said. "You came down here last night and you were out as soon as you hit the pillow. You've been asleep for over ten hours."

"Ten hours!" screamed Hinata. "I need to get back to the infirmary! Tenten is going to be so mad that I made her watch over Kiba, Shino and Shikamaru for ten hours."

"No worries Hinata, Tenten was okay with it," Naruto said.

"Are you sure? How do you know?" Hinata asked.

"I talked to her last night," Naruto said. "I told her you'd probably wouldn't return to the infirmary until morning."

Hinata let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you."

"So slow down a bit, eat some breakfast and then head back up to the infirmary," Naruto said.

"Hai."

Gai woke up, he had slept longer than he anticipated. His stuff was packed and ready to go but he walked out of the cell block he was sleeping in and went to the front door windows to see if the storm had finally moved on. He looked out the windows to see that the wind had finally stopped howling and that the sun was finally shining. He opened the door to find the entire courtyard of the prison was just white and it was still extremely cold but the storm was gone and it was safe to travel back to the Northeastern Outpost.

Gai returned to the cell he chose to sleep in until the blizzard was gone. Before he gathered his stuff and leave, he took out a scroll and began writing inside of it. Unbeknownst to him, Sasuke's snake summon was watching in a darkened corner and noticed Gai was writing down the location of the group of 'traitors' as Gai called them.

'I must tell Sasuke right away,'

The snake slithered down the bars of the cell without Gai noticing as he was still busy writing and disappeared down the hall.

After eating her breakfast, Hinata made her way back to the infirmary. She felt well-rested and was ready for whatever she had to do. As she made her way up from the basement, she had hoped the boys were feeling better today.

Hinata entered the infirmary to find everyone huddled around Kiba. She was suprised Shino and Shikamaru were out of bed.

"Shikamaru? Shino? Are- are you guys feeling better today?" asked Hinata.

Shikamaru and Shino turned to see Hinata and although she couldn't really make out Shino's expression, Shikamaru's face looked down.

"What's wrong?" asked Hinata.

"It's Kiba," Shikamaru said. "It's bad."

Hinata's heart started beating like it wanted out of her chest as she slowly walked over to the bed. As she approached her teammate, she saw Kiba lying on his side without his shirt. Shino and Shikamaru stepped out of Hinata's way and she saw it.

"N-no!" she yelled as tears formed in her eyes.

Hinata quickly turned around and ran out of the infirmary. Tenten ushered Shikamaru and Shino back to their beds as they were still recovering from their illnesses.

"We have to tell Naruto," Shikamaru stated. "He has to know."

Tenten nodded, "I'll go let him know."

Naruto, Sasuke and Lee were discussing their next supply run from the Northeastern Outpost.

"I know you'll be going to Nami no Kuni, so who will go with me for this supply run?" asked Lee.

"You can take whoever wants to go," Naruto answered. "All you got to do is ask."

Lee nodded, "I'll take Tenten, I know she'll go."

"So you and Tenten will head to the Northeastern Outpost for the supply run in the next week or so."

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned around to find Tenten was calling out his name.

"Tenten? What is it?" he asked.

"You need to come to the infirmary, it's serious," Tenten said.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto.

"It's Kiba," Tenten said.

Naruto and Tenten quickly headed to the elevator shaft. As Naruto and Tenten were leaving, the snake Sasuke had summoned to keep an eye on Gai had returned.

"Hebinodoka, what is Gai doing?" whispered Sasuke.

"He wrote down the location of this prison and labeled you all as traitors and is going to ask for Kakashi to come kill us when they begin something he called 'Operation: Restoration'," Hebinodoka whispered.

"Thank you, you may return home," Sasuke whispered and began to walk to the elevator shaft.

Lee, who had walked back to his sleeping bag, noticed Sasuke leaving.

"Is there anything you need help with, Sasuke?" Lee asked.

"No, I'm just going to take a walk outside," Sasuke said.

"Oh, okay," Lee said.

Naruto along with Tenten, entered the infirmary. Hinata was isolating herself as she held back tears.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto.

Nobody said anything but Shikamaru motioned Naruto to come to Kiba's bed. Naruto walked over to Kiba, who he noticed was getting sicker as Shikamaru and Shino were starting to get better.

Shikamaru pointed to the back of Kiba and Naruto walked around the bed to see what he didn't want to see. It was a bite. At first all Naruto could do was ask himself how could someone with such a great sense of smell get bit like that? So Naruto really didn't believe it.

"It's not, is it?" Naruto said.

"It is," Shikamaru said, breaking the awkward silence. "It's a bite."

"Uh, why is it so hot in here?" whispered Kiba as he came to.

Kiba looked around to find everyone was looking at him weird. He looked behind the group to see Hinata nearly crying.

"You saw it, didn't you?" asked Kiba.

Everyone nodded and Kiba sighed. He was hoping he didn't have to tell anyone other than Naruto about his perdictament but now everyone knew.

"How?" Naruto asked. "You should of smelled them and heard them from miles away."

"When me, Shikamaru and Shino went out looking for wood to use, we decided to split up. As I was collecting wood, a small group of Walkers came out of the woods. Me and Akamaru took care of them of course, but I wasn't paying attention behind me. I was so focused on the group that were in front, I didn't really notice there was one approaching from behind until it was too late. The Walker grabbed me and bit into the back of my shoulder. Akamaru got him off of me and then I killed the Walker," Kiba explained.

"Damn it," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Guys? Can I speak with Hinata alone?" Kiba requested.

"Sure," Shikamaru said.

Everyone that was in the infirmary except for Hinata and Kiba, left. The group waited nearby but Naruto continued walking away.

"Naruto?" yelled Shikamaru. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just need to be alone for a moment," Naruto replied as he continued walking down the hallway.

"I know he's going to take this hard," Shikamaru said. "This would be the second person this group has lost under his leadership."

"I hope it doesn't break him completely," Tenten said.

"Me niether," Shikamaru replied.

"I don't mean to be rude," Shino began, "But what we are facing in this world right now, he should be prepared for the worst."

"True as that may be, it doesn't make it any easier," Shikamaru said.

Gai found himself behind the prison. He was lucky no one spotted him even though Naruto was the one that told him he could leave at his own free will as long as it was after the storm so no one would stop him.

Gai jumped to the wall and was about to jump to the ground outside the prison when a silhouette in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Gai looked over to his right and saw Sasuke standing there.

Gai was a surprised that he was even there or even followed him. Maybe Naruto sent him to give him some food for the trip back to the Northeastern Outpost.

"What's going on Sasuke? Did Naruto sent you to give me some parting words or food for my trip?" asked Gai.

"No," Sasuke answered.

"The storm has passed, I honored Naruto's wishes so I'm heading back to the Northeastern Outpost."

"Not with note that describes where we are at and asking the Hokage to label us as Missing-nin," Sasuke said.

"How do you know about that?" asked Gai, stunned.

"Naruto maybe trust you, but I didn't so I had a summon watch you to make sure you don't try anything so I was a bit surprised when he returned to me stating you wrote a letter giving away our position and asking the Hokage to label us Missing-nin but my hunch was right," Sasuke explained.

"Even if I give you the letter I wrote or tear it up right here where you can see won't matter," Gai said. "I still know the location."

Sasuke sighed, "Well, I guess you're not going anywhere after all."

Gai, "I guess I better get ready to fight!"

Special Announcement:

In the coming future I'm getting ideas and plot lines ready for a new story in the coming months. Details about this new story will be released once I think I'm ready to begin writing. Once this new story is up, I still will be working on 'Naruto-sensei' and 'A Different World' too.