"Do you need to stop?" Naruto called back as he ran ahead, glancing at Souta over his shoulder.

Souta shook his head and waved his companion forward, stumbling over his feet and skidding face first into the ground.

"Yeah, you're not good at this ninja thing yet." Naruto chuckled, appearing at his side.

"I didn't think I was that tired." Souta sighed, taking the hand Naruto extended and pulling himself up.

"You just need to learn to control your chakra better, it took me forever to learn the clone technique. Are you training with anyone back home?" Naruto asked.

Souta nodded as they walked forward, struggling to regain his breath, "Iruka was teaching me the stuff taught at the academy, the basics I guess and Kakashi was teaching more of the elemental jutus."

"Karachi-sesnei agreed to take you on and you're not close to the graduation exam? How'd that happen?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe a little begging, I wouldn't leave him alone and he agreed. I can handle the hand signs and the fighting stances and everything but for some reason controlling my chakra is the problem. We don't have that in our world." Souta mused.

"Maybe a little more training when we get back home. You're related to the old hag so you're sure to get the hang of it soon, believe it!" Naruto stated.

Souta smirked and nodded, both teens tossing each other a fist bump before glancing up at the canopy of trees. It was late afternoon, if they didn't pick up the pace soon they would't get back to Konoha until late morning the following day.

Naruto glanced over at the teen next to him, "you ready to move?"

Souta nodded, "yeah, Kagome needs me."


Sakura rubbed her forehead and leaned back, "if I had to guess, I'd say she lost at least 15%-20% of her blood, and there's a nasty gash on the back of her head like she was tossed onto a rock so I'm guessing a concussion too."

Kakashi stalked around the fire and paced back, "she's stable then?"

"Well… for the time being. I can't do anything, I've never encountered anyone that just absorbs chakra and doesn't heal." Sakura mumbled.

Silver hair bounced as he slowly took in the information.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you prepared for the worst case scenario? After this whole thing, the baby might not—"

"I'm going to find something for us to eat." Kakashi interrupted quickly, shoving through the underbrush and back towards the clearing where the battle took place..

Kakashi inhaled deeply as he reentered the clearing with the cave, his visible eye scanning and seeing the blood scattered around.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets he moved forward, kicking dirt over the first puddle of blood and moving around slowly, his sandals kicking more dirt over the droplets and puddles that littered the ground.

Eyeing the cave entrance he moved slowly, his gaze taking in the upturned dirt at the entrance, fingers dug into the ground before being pulled back as he crawled in.

The fire Inuyasha built was still burning strong, casting the cave in a soft warm glow as he moved around slowly.

He tugged a hand from his pocket and ran it across the rock face as he walked, his fingers brushing onto the one with a dark liquid on it.

Staring at his fingers as he pulled them back, Kakashi rubbed the blood between his fingers.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura's voice broke him from his thoughts as he turned and crawled through the entrance.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" he asked.

Pink hair flew wildly as Sakura turned, the front of her clothes covered in an unidentifiable liquid.

"I thought she was stable, she's throwing up everywhere. I think she's going into shock." Sakura said.