A/N: This is a very dramatic chapter. And it doesn't have a cliffie.

Reviews:

Dragon: No such luck, this fanfiction is actually a slight crossover. It turns out Zetsu had Ed's (from Ed, Edd, and Eddy) stomache, making him completely immune to everything. lol, but seriously Zetsu won't be adversly affected.

Jeanie: of course, but about Issun...

Avatar: Yeah the five tail form is pretty amazing, it will be mentioned in this chappie but will gain more prom

inence later on.

Chapter 36: Free

Naruto woke up in familiar surroundings. His tired mind tried to sot things out. "HINATA!"

"Whoa there Naruto." Kakashi had moved quickly to hold Naruto down to the bed and prevent him jumping out of it. He did this with one authoritative hand on Naruto's wrist.

"AH! Kakashi?! Yamato?! Ero-Sennin?!" He shouted their names as he turned to face each of them.

Jiraiya was a little ticked. "That's Jiraiya-sensei."

Yamato smirked. "Well Naruto we all have some questions for you. We were hoping-"

Naruto interrupted him. "I don't care about your questions." He was staring down at his hands, clenched into fists.

Kakashi released his wrist. "Sakura told us about you and Hinata. I thought you should know she's still alive."

Naruto shot up. "REALLY?! WHERE?! LET ME GO ARGH!!!!" All three of them had to join in holding Naruto down this time. They finally managed to pin him to the bed and restrain him. He struggled against the confinement.

"Naruto calm down. You can't see her yet, she's still being treated. Her wounds were extensive enough to need the use of the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Jutsu, which is still being performed. Were you to rush into the room and start screaming as you are very prone to do, the jutsu would fail and she would surely die." Kakashi's last words caught his attention, so he calmed down and stopped struggling. "Good. Now we do have some questions for you-"

"I'M THE ONE WITH QUESTIONS!!! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU GUYS?!?! WHAT WAS YOUR MISSION?!?!? WHAT HAPPENED TO SAI?!?!?!" Naruto was struggling with the restraints again and was yelling at the top of his lungs.

The other three men sighed in unison. Jiraiya walked forward and gagged Naruto with a sock he had procured from somewhere. "That stays on until you are willing to listen. Naruto was of course struggling against the gag.

Yamato couldn't help but laugh a little at Naruto's position, then he had a thought. "Jiraiya, where did you get that sock?"

Jiraiya smiled and lifted up his leg to his chest, balancing on the other. He pointed to his foot. "Where else?"

There was a pause. It was followed by Naruto making many more noises through his gag and lunging even more then before.

Kakashi turned to face the perverted hermit. "I wasn't aware that you wore socks."

Jiraiya stopped his hopping and put his foot back on the ground. "Well I wouldn't normally but knowing that we were coming to speak with Naruto I thought it would be a good idea to have something handy like a sock for just such a situation. Especially one that I had been wearing and walked all over the hospital in." There was another loud stream of groans from Naruto. "Hehehe. Okay Naruto are you ready to listen and answer our questions instead of just running your mouth off?"

Naruto nodded and Jiraiya reached forward and removed the sock from Naruto's face. He remained grudgingly quiet in the presence of his mentors. It was Yamato who began. "Naruto, we want to hear from you what has happened in our absence. You have a lot of explaining to do. First of all I was surprised to see Sasuke here and can only imagine that it was partly you that brought about that miracle. Further more when I saw you and managed to reseal the demons chakra, you had five tails not four. The doctor's estimated that the only reason you didn't turn this entire city district into a crater is because you were bogged down by enough tranquilizer to kill a herd of bulls. Now start talking."

Naruto inhaled. "Well, Sasuke actually showed up here after running away from Orochimaru who I beat off and it was Sakura who treated his wounds and fixed his body so that he's now on some permanent hyper mode but while I was beating up Orochimaru I used the RasenShuriken but it really hurt my arm and they had to remove it and then during the night the kyuubi starts talking with me and flooding me with chakra and my arm grew back and the seal got even weaker then before so if I control it right I can get four tails and stay in control and turn it off if I start to lose the control but I've never gone up to five and I blacked out after Hinata went down so It must be the same thing as when I used to go to four tails."

The three men just looked at him, while a wind blew by the window. "Naruto, we expected more then one sentence."

"Sakura, are you sure?"

"You didn't want to pick so you asked me and now you get picky? It looks fine. Now come on we have to go pick up flowers for Naruto." Sakura walked out of the house. "Sasuke get out here NOW!"

Sasuke walked out and onto the thin residential street. He began to follow Sakura through town taking count of the number of people he knew who stole glances at his new wardrobe. They reached the flower shop and Sakura went in alone. She came out with Ino accompanying her, who decided to tell Sasuke, "Wow Sasuke nice outfit."

They took the flowers to the hospital. Sakura didn't need to ask about where the rooms were, so they just walked past the reception desk. Sakura went first to check on Hinata's condition, which Sasuke was unable to do along with her due to the fragility of the jutsu. When she returned she looked relieved, so Sasuke assumed the best. After that they went to Naruto's room.

Their presence broke a silence that had befallen the room. "Sakura! Sasuke!"

Sakura said hello but Sasuke just nodded. He placed the flowers where Sakura told him to. He noticed that the three "adults" were eyeing him questioningly, but he ignored it for now.

Sakura handed the flowers she was carrying to Naruto. He asked her what the others were for. "Those are for Hinata, but I thought it should be you who gives them to her." Naruto made a sad face. "Don't worry Naruto I checked before coming here. She's gonna be fine. They've also been instructed to notify me as soon as the regeneration jutsu is done, and that means you'll know as soon as it's safe to go over and jump and scream like we all know you want to." Not even Naruto could argue, he was just happy knowing she would be alright. But Sakura wasn't done yet. "Naruto, there's something else you should know. That boy, Issun, he survived and we have him here, but he won't live for much longer."

Naruto looked back at her intensely. "When you slashed him, you must have been channeling a massive amount of that demon chakra. The wound is infected with something we've never seen before. There are no medications for it, and we couldn't remove the infected flesh because as soon as we did it regenerated and continued to spread. I can't imagine that Kainu made it far after what you did to him. Scouts have been searching for him. Issun will be dead before midnight."

A heavy atmosphere descended on the room. Sasuke thought it had gone on long enough, and he believed he had more important matters to attend to. "Kakashi. How did you obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

Kakashi didn't turn to face Sasuke, though every one else did. "Sasuke, now is not the time for this." Sasuke stood up from the wall and clenched his fist. "Don't worry. I'll tell you exactly how I ended up with that eye, but only when ordered to by the Hokage herself. Wait till then. It won't be much longer." Sasuke was not pleased with this answer.

Not actually meaning to lighten the mood bud doing so anyway Naruto made an observation. "Sasuke did you change your clothes?"

Sakura knew Sasuke wasn't going to respond. "Yeah, he asked me to help him out." Sasuke's loose open shirt had been replaced with a tighter, low collared shirt which effectively showed the same amount of skin. The sleeves were still long, but they we're tucked into his gauntlets producing a slight billow. He had also abandoned the purple spiral sash that was worn by so many sound-nin. In its place was a black sash, and his pants didn't have to be folded back quite so far anymore. The final noticeable change was that he had a new Konoha headband, which he wore, tied around his upper right arm. The plate was curved more to fit here better, but the leaf was as visible as always.

Silence followed after that. After a long time of this in which Sakura could feel Sasuke's agitation growing, she was thankful to see a nurse come in. "Sakura, Miss Hyuga has been moved to a regular room, room 204."

Sakura nodded and was about to thank her when Naruto loudly blurted out, "UNTIE ME I GOTTA GO!!"

Kakashi released the straps holding Naruto down and stood up. "We need to report to Hokage-sama. We'll see you all later."

Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm to hold him back. "We'd love to see Hinata but we've got some other stuff to take care of. Give Hinata my regards. And don't forget the flowers. See you, Naruto."

Everyone left the room while Naruto was getting up from the bed. He grabbed the flowers and bolted down the halls running as fast as he could. He reached the room and shoved the door aside. There was a nurse inside. "Sakura told me you'd show up. Listen, Naruto was it? Ok, Miss Hyuga is stable and will recover, but she's asleep now and that is the best thing for her at the moment. Let her rest please." Naruto nodded and sat down quietly by the bed, watching the slow gentle movements of her chest that were proof she was still breathing.

As he sat and waited for her to wake up, someone else came into the hospital room. A tall man with dark hair and white eyes.

Hinata opened her eyes. They hurt. She tried to move her arm but it to hurt. She had a wild sense of Déjà vu, which was complete when she saw Naruto leaning over her. "Naruto-kun?"

"Hinata!" He looked, and for that matter was, incredibly relieved.

She started to sit up, and could feel Naruto's hand on her back supporting her. It came to her attention that Naruto was not the only other person in the room. To her left, standing tall and with his hands on a cane, was Hiashi Hyuga. Her father. Hinata froze in terror.

"Hinata Hyuga." His voice was stern. "As the head of the Hyuga family, I hereby renounce your status as heir, in favor of your sister." Hinata felt as if someone had slapped her in the face. "As such, you are no longer required to live on the clan grounds if you so choose. You may go where you wish, and marry whom you wish. It is of no further concern to me." This statement caught Hinata completely by surprise. It occurred to h that while saying the last part, he had not been looking at her, but at Naruto. "That is all." Hiashi turned and began to walk away.

Naruto was enraged. "Why y-" Hinata had placed her hand over Naruto's mouth, causing him to silence immediately.

Hinata turned back to her father who had stopped at the noise. "Thank you, father." Hiashi made no sign of recognition, he just walked away. Hinata let go of Naruto face and looked up at him affectionately. He stared back completely confused. "I think that my father just gave us his blessing for marriage." As soon as she said it she regretted it, and broke into an uncontrollable blush. When she finally worked up the courage to look at Naruto again, he was sitting in a chair looking straight down with a face even redder then hers.

"Sakura, we don't have anything planned."

Sakura turned and looked right at Sasuke. "I know; I just didn't want you trying to pester Kakashi. I actually do have something I need to do, but I'm doing it alone, so you can go wherever you want." She leapt away from him and sped off.

She was now standing in the home of Kurenai Yuki. "I must say Sakura I was surprised you wanted to talk with me so suddenly like this."

Kurenai had grown a bit in her pregnancy, and had been having some trouble managing her budget after being removed from the active duty roster. "It's not much Kurenai-sensei. I'm glad to see that the baby is coming along nicely."

Kurenai smiled softly. "Yes, the last piece of him I have left. But I hope that's not what you came here to talk to me about. OH!! Sakura are you…?!"

"NO! NO. No. It's nothing like that." Kurenai was visibly relieved. "Kurenai-sensei, during this last fight I couldn't do anything. For most of the battle I was pinned down in one way or another, and even when I stood up nothing I did mattered in the end. Naruto, Sasuke, even Hinata. They all fought so hard to defeat those guys, and I couldn't… I NEED YOU TO TEACH ME!!"

Kurenai was confused and shocked. "What?"

Sakura looked the Jonin right in the eyes. "Kakashi told me once when I was younger, that to make the best use of my abilities, I should try to specialize in genjutsu, but after Tsunade-sensei arrived and Naruto left with Jiraiya-sama, I thought I could keep up with him by training under a sannin too. She taught me new taijutsu and ninjutsu, but she is inept at genjutsu, so we never trained it. That's why, Kurenai-sensei, I want you teach me how to use genjutsu. I'll pay for the lessons and-and-and…"

"Sakura I-"

"Please Kurenai-sensei! I'll pay whatever price you need!"

"Of course I'll help you but I couldn't accept-"

"You will?!"

"Yes of course. But I can't take your-"

"Yes you can. I know that you've been having trouble getting by. I've saved up a lot from missions and my internship at the hospital. You'll take the money if I have to force it on you." Sakura was very adamant.

Kurenai sighed. She was short on cash. "Alright Sakura, you can pay me, but I won't settle for you paying me anything to high."

Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. "Thank you, Kurenai-sensei. When's the first lesson?"

"Are you sure about this Hina-chan?"

"He must have had a horrible life. And I know it's not my fault but I still can't help but feel guilty. I want to speak with him once." Hinata pushed the door open and walked through.

Inside there was a single bed with a single occupant. He was strapped down so he could not move, and an IV of pain medication was in his arm. He did not initially respond to the movement, but when Hinata came into view he made attempts to move.

Hinata began to back away and she bumped into Naruto. She moved forward again, and was looking Issun right in the face. "Issun." He froze when his name was said. "Issun, I'm sorry." She didn't really know where to go with this. "I'm sorry that you had to be born the way you were born, and raised by that awful man-"

"Don't you dare insult father." It was hardly a voice at all.

"How can you be so loyal to him, even now?" Hinata couldn't but tear up.

"I must ob-"

"NO! You're wrong. You don't always have to do what someone else tells you to do. Sometimes, parents can make bad choices for their children, even doing what they think is best. But they can be wrong. Didn't you ever question him at all?"

Issun was silent. "Mother, can I tell you the truth?" Hinata nodded. "I hated father. I hated his choices. I hated the punishments. But, from when I was younger, the thought of disobeying him, of disappointing him, just the thought was unbearable. Where is he now?"

It was getting harder for Hinata to not cry. "He's gone. We think he may already be dead, but we haven't found a body."

"Then it is up to you. I must be told what to do with my life, by a parent. Please tell me what I should do."

Hinata finally let the tears fall. "Issun, you should be free, to do what ever you want with your life. You should be happy and free."

Issun turned his head to look at her. "Free? Nonki?(Nonki means free) That was the name they said my birth mother wanted for me."

"She must have wanted you to be free as well."

"But when she was selected to carry me, she knew the life I would have. I was to be a weapon for the use of Kainu from my birth until my death."

"I think, parents will make mistakes, but that later they will repent and try to make things right." Naruto was reminded of Hiashi. Hinata continued, "I'm sorry Issun, that your father never made things right with you." She reached out and held his hand. "But, I want to try, now, to make things right. Even if it's only for these last few hours, I want you to be free."

Hinata leaned forward and hugged Issun. It was an awkward embrace, she could not get her arms around him as he was too tightly strapped down, and he could not return in any way. She slowly released him and backed away. Issun understood. Somehow, he understood. "I remember. It was night a long time ago. He thought I was asleep. He stood over me, and he was crying. He said he was sorry. He crawled away and he never told me what it was about. Why?"

"I don't know, he must have been sorry at some level."

"I'd like to see him again so I could ask. Is that allowable mother?"

Hinata was choking up, but she still managed to speak. "You can do whatever you want. Nonki."

A thin and long beeping noise filled the room, and Naruto held Hinata to support her.

A/N: Heavy...