Wow. New chapter. I'm managing to keep up! yay! I'm sure you all appreciate it.

Explanations will come next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 13

"Believe me, I wish I could let you three at him," Tsunade said to the three fuming Chuunin across from her desk. "It wouldn't be more than he deserves, if I'm right. But we need to proceed carefully. If there's one thing wrong, the people fighting for him will seize on it and get any charges rescinded."

Shikamaru sighed. He'd known this, but Sakura and Chouji had dragged him into the Hokage's office when news of Ino's attack had reached them. They must have thought he could talk Tsunade into . . . something. Probably letting them into Sasuke's room. Beside him, the two shifted angrily—they clearly wanted to get their hands on the Uchiha survivor.

To be perfectly honest, Shikamaru wanted the same thing. Asuma's death and the following events had brought out a vengeful streak in him. He rarely acted on it—rarely was it worth the effort—but he often planned out complicated and painful deaths for people. For Ino and Naruto, though, he figured he could put out the effort to pull Sasuke's eyes out and hang him by his nostrils from the Hokage monument, or something equally painful. But he understood the Hokage's position.

"Has he said anything since you found him?" Sakura demanded. "Like how to get Naruto and Ino out of their comas?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I knocked him out when I found him in Naruto's room. He's been on medication since then so he can't use his Sharingan to escape."

"Can we find out what's wrong without him?" Chouji asked.

"I have a genjutsu expert looking Ino right now," Tsunade answered. "She couldn't find anything wrong with Naruto, but I'm hoping that she can find something since Ino was just attacked a few hours ago."

Sakura and Chouji frowned; they hadn't known of any genjutsu experts in Konoha. Shikamaru also frowned, but he knew who Tsunade was talking about.

"She had better not be stressing herself," Shikamaru said, giving Tsunade a half-hearted glare. "You know how delicate her position is."

Tsunade smiled at Shikamaru. "It looks like that child will have a very protective godfather." Shikamaru blushed and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. Kurenai knows her limits, and she won't do anything to endanger the baby."

Yuhi Kurenai grimaced as she leaned over Ino's prone form.

"I thought motion sickness was only supposed to last through the first trimester," she muttered, placing a hand on her slightly swollen stomach. "Not even born and you enjoy tormenting me."

The nurse in the room perked up at Kurenai's comments. "We have medicine for that if you'd like, ma'am."

"No, thank you," Kurenai said. "I understand it's not a good idea to take it past your third month."

With that, she turned back to Ino. The girl was obviously under a specialized genjutsu. A normal genjutsu would temporarily commandeer the victim's chakra system, reshaping it so that the person would be trapped in a full sensory illusion. They would see, hear, feel, smell and taste whatever the genjutsu dictated. It was manipulation of the chakra, nothing more.

But this genjutsu was more than that. It had another, far more dangerous level. It involved a little bit of chakra manipulation, but for the most part, Ino's chakra pathways had been completely bypassed in favor of directly tampering with the mind. When she inspected Ino's chakra, she found traces of familiar energy—almost exactly like the time she'd fought Itachi.

Kurenai stood up, rubbing at her lower back. If it hurt this much in the fourth month, she wouldn't be able to move by the ninth. This coma was definitely the work of the Sharingan, but that was the only thing she knew—Kakashi would be of more use at this point.

She put her hands on her hips, thinking hard on Naruto. She had recognized the signature of the Sharingan genjutsu instantly on Ino. If Sasuke had done the same thing to Naruto, she would have seen a similar pattern in his chakra, but there was nothing in his system that was the same. Everything indicated Naruto's condition had nothing to do with Sharingan.

Kurenai sighed and decided to go check Naruto again. Tsunade wouldn't be happy if she was told the only possible explanation she'd come up with in over a month was debunked. She stepped out of Ino's room and closed the door quietly, as if noise would awaken the girl. The Jounin wished it would; she would ask Iruka to feed his Academy class sugar pills and bring them in.

Naruto's door was opened just as quietly, and Kurenai took a moment to just take in the silent, unmoving form of Uzumaki Naruto. She had visited him every once in a while, mostly when Hinata had been too scared too stop in alone. Even though Hinata was very quiet, she wasn't silent. It was a rare opportunity to see the blond quiet and still, but she had seen enough and to be honest, the sight was getting a little creepy.

She leaned forward and inspected his chakra as best she could. A Hyuuga would be better for this, but Kurenai knew what she was looking for. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her chakra, which felt different from the baby. She still couldn't get used to that.

Last time she'd checked Naruto, his chakra pathways had been normal, but inactive. They functioned like his muscles. Most of them needing to be consciously activated to be in use, and nurses had periodically been coming in to stimulate them so they wouldn't atrophy, again just like his muscles. One month ago, they had shown no problems and no evidence of tampering. He simply hadn't used them in a while.

She shook her hair out of her face and placed her hands on his chest, near the chakra center. One deep breath later, Kurenai's eyes snapped open and she rushed to the door. "Nurse! Get the Hokage now!"

She turned around and checked Naruto again. She had to make sure of what she'd found, but three inspections later, her findings were still true.

Naruto's chakra was starting to flow again.

Kurenai stepped back and lowered herself into a nearby chair. Naruto's voluntary chakra pathways were stirring to life. It took a conscious mind, something Naruto had shown no signs of, to do that. This was good, good news. As the saying went, any news is good news. Finally, something had changed in him.

Moments later, Tsunade burst into the room, followed almost immediately by Sakura and Chouji. Shikamaru wandered in a few seconds later and leaned against the wall.

"Well?" the Hokage demanded.

"Inspect his chakra," Kurenai advised. "You'll see."

Tsunade stepped up to Naruto's form and placed her hands on his chest. No one commented on how they shook. She took a deep breath, but gasped not a moment later.

"Shishou?" Sakura asked, seeing the look on her sensei's face. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

Tsunade shook her head. "No, no, actually I think something is finally right. Shikamaru, get Kakashi and Yamato. Tell them to come quickly. Naruto may be waking up."

Hatake Kakashi was considered a genius by many. Most of the world, in fact, was terrified of the mind of the copy ninja. Nearly the same amount thought it was just because of the implanted Sharingan. Kakashi figured that he could have been at almost the same level with the Sharingan as without it. Of course there were some things that simply could not be duplicated, but the level of his jutsus would be the same. He probably would have invented even more instead of relying on the Sharingan to give him jutsus.

But still, he was a genius. One of the many things he prided himself on was reading intentions. He was wandering the streets of Konoha, reading his beloved new green book. Naruto had given it to him and people were just starting to recognize him again.

He had sensed the ANBU following him and ditched him upon figuring out what he wanted. Somebody else was after him now, but instead of trailing him, this person had planted himself on Kakashi's most likely path and was waiting for the Jounin to come to him.

"Well, Shikamaru?" he asked, passing the lounging Chuunin. "What's going on now?"

"Something about Naruto. Tsunade ordered me to find you and Yamato," he replied, pushing himself off the wall and sauntering next to Kakashi.

"Did you find Yamato?" Kakashi wondered. They turned down a street in the direction of the hospital, Kakashi's nose still buried in his book.

Shikamaru sighed heavily. "Yeah, when I mentioned the subject, he ran off in the direction of the hospital."

"Mmm. If it was that urgent, Tsunade would have sent someone with more . . ."

"Enthusiasm?"

"Yeah. That."

The hospital room that had become Naruto's home was filled with people: Tsunade, Sakura, Yamato, Sai (no one was quite sure who had told him. He just showed up), Chouji, and Kurenai were all standing or sitting around the prostrate blond. Kakashi's eye swept them all and settled on Naruto's heart rate monitor.

"So, he's showing signs of recovering?" Kakashi asked.

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, the way his vitals and chakra have been improving, he very well could wake up any minute."

"Right." Kakashi pulled up his Sharingan and looked over the blond. His eye widened in amazement. He had been in to visit Naruto just earlier that day—how could this be the same Naruto from a few hours ago?

"Do you really expect him to wake up any minute now?" Shikamaru asked, closing his eyes.

Tsunade sighed and folded her arms. "I honestly have no idea when he'll wake up. It could be in a minute, an hour or a day. This case has been so unpredictable, I wouldn't be surprised by anything."

"It wasn't caused by Sasuke, either," Kurenai revealed. "Ino's coma was a result of the Sharingan, but Naruto's isn't."

"Let me guess," Kakashi said. "You want me to take a look at her soon, since you've got Sasuke doped up and can't get anything from him."

Tsunade nodded and rubbed at her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The previously unmoving blond lying in the bed suddenly thrashed about and started howling. All eight people jumped a solid foot into the air and stared, wide-eyed. Naruto had been so . . . so serene and restful for so long, no one could quite comprehend his sudden return to consciousness. As abruptly as the convulsions had started, they stopped and Naruto was left sitting up, panting and clutching at the sheets.

"NO!" he cried, looking around at them. "Where—where is he?"

"Naruto?" Tsunade wondered. She stepped closer and tentatively reached a hand out. It was shaking and her eyes were incredibly wide as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Naruto started and turned to her.

"Where is he? Where are they?" Naruto demanded. He jumped out of the bed and almost instantly collapsed on the ground. Tsunade caught one arm and Sai grabbed the other.

"Welcome back, Naruto!" the artist said, offering him a smile.

Naruto stared at Tsunade and Sai, then demanded once more, "Where is he? I did not go through all of that crap to bring him back only to have him not be here!"

"Naruto," Sakura started, stepping forward. "Sasuke attacked you and Ino. He's being held in—"

"You think I'm talking about Sasuke?!" Naruto shouted. "I don't care about him!"

And then the Naruto world ended.

Actually, everyone in the room stared in abject horror at Naruto, who looked around at all of them. "Why won't anyone answer me? Where is he?"

"Would you mind telling us who you are looking for, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"The Fourth Hokage!"

At that moment, everyone in the room had the same thought. Damn! He's nuts.

"Naruto," Sakura said slowly. "The Fourth Hokage's dead. He died—"

"Sealing the Kyuubi into me—yeah yeah! But he's alive now!"

Chouji was stuck on the first part of that proclamation, but the rest of the room was wondering what had given out in Naruto's mind that made him think the Fourth Hokage was alive.

"Ah, Naruto—"

The wind blew the window open and rushed in, blowing hair in everyone's eyes, except for Shikamaru's which was tied up, and Kakashi's, which refused to obey any law of nature.

Half of the people in the room had whipped out weapons and the other half were in the middle of forming jutsus when the wind began to swirl. Bits of dust began to collect and form, solidifying slowly into the vague outline of a man.

Naruto folded his arms and waited, squinting to keep the wind out of his eyes. The wind suddenly picked up for a second, spinning around the figure so fast it was indiscernible. When it died down, Namikaze Minato blinked a couple of times and turned in place.

Naruto grinned and put his hands behind his head. "See? I told you he wasn't dead!"

--

Short, I know, but this deserved a chapter all to itself! And I really need to get to bed now!

So, I assume that Shikamaru would not be too surprised by the revelation that Naruto is Kyuubi's jailer. He would be able to process it and move on quickly, in my opinion. And I honestly believe that in some ways, Kakashi could be a more powerful ninja without the Sharingan. Obviously, as I said, some things would be weaker, but in many respects, he could be stronger. And I'm just talking about the physical aspect, not the emotional growth that came with it.

R&R please! I loves you all!