What was known by all of the hospital staff as "The Naruto Situation" didn't get better. Months passed and all of the shinobi who participated in the retrieval mission were all well and have left the hospital, but the situation didn't change for Naruto. He was still in a coma and the only people that have been able to pass through the barrier were Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Iruka, Hinata, Shikamaru, Neji, Rock Lee, Kiba and Akamaru, the sand siblings, Chouji and Sakura. Tsunade noticed the pattern after Shizune and Jiraiya were admitted through the barrier. Only the people who cared about him.

Everyone had settled into their own lives again with the exception of the two sennin, Kakashi, Iruka and Hinata. Tsunade blamed herself for sending a mainly gennin team against a team of skilled Jounins. Jiraiya feels mostly sorrow for another student lost that he could have saved and spent most of his time peeping to drown his sorrows, always remembering the blonde kid who always ruined his expeditions. Kakashi blames himself for not being able to save Sasuke and consequently losing Naruto as well. Iruka and Hinata are just terribly sad.

Saddened by the loss of Naruto, Hinata gathered up her courage and asked Tsunade to be her sensei. When she was asked why, she blushed and stuttered out, "I-I want to become a g-good medic nin s-so I can save Na-Naruto-kun."

Tsunade smiled at her and agreed to teach her all about medical jutsus. At their first lesson, Tsunade found that the young Hyuuga heiress had a talent for medical jutsus and with her Byakugan, she was able to pick up the details and figure out exactly how the chakra pattern is woven. As a result, she learned at a faster rate than Shizune had when she first started.

The last member of team 7 was switched into Kurenai's team 8. Under the tutelage of a genjutsu specialist, Sakura's talent for that area was quickly discovered and put to good use. However, as everyone returned to their lives, they never forgot the loud blonde that brightened their lives. Every week, all of those who were allowed through the barrier would have lunch there in the demolished room that Naruto slept in. There, they would talk about the old pranks the fallen blonde was famous for, like the painting of the Hokage monument.


It was that day of the week again and Shikamaru sat up from his cloud gazing to go to the hospital and pay tribute to the blonde. It was one of the few things he did that wasn't troublesome. 'It's been one whole year since the incident. Everyone's a chuunin now and Neji has become a special jounin. The Sand siblings have become permanent residents of Konoha as a sign of peace. Gaara had become a jounin and the other two are chuunins too. I can't believe it has been a year already… a year since the retrieval mission failed.' Thought Shikamaru, as he shuffled towards the hospital.

He suddenly felt a huge chakra signature from the direction of the hospital. Instantly, Shikamaru ran at top speed towards the hospital. 'Kuso! Another assassination attempt! Why are all those people after Naruto? This is the 14th assassination attempt in the past year! What is going on!'

When he arrived on the scene, he found nothing unusual except the widening of the whole in outer wall. He jumped up to the window and saw that nothing was there. "Hmm… what happened to the assassin?"

"What assassin?" came the answer.

Nearly jumping out of his skin, Shikamaru whirled around to see Naruto sitting up in his bed looking right back at him. "Na-Naruto! You're alive!" stuttered a shocked Shikamaru.

"Yeah. As alive as one can be after being in a year long coma. I'm going to go get some ramen at the Ichiraku. Could you stay and tell everyone else to go there?" said Naruto.

"No need. We're all here." came a voice muffled by a mask.

"Kakashi-sensei! Good to actually see you."

"What do you mean?" asked Tsunade.

"I've been somewhat conscious of what's going on from that coma. The chakra barrier was raised by Kyuubi so that I could train undisturbed by would be assassins." Started Naruto. Seeing the confused faces of his friends, he decided he would explain from the top. "Ok. Let me explain from the beginning. And don't interrupt until I'm done or I'll forget what I was talking about. Anyways, Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked the village the day I was born. Yondaime-sama was unable to physically kill it but he sacrificed his soul to the death god who, in return, sealed the Kyuubi into a kawaii new born kid by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. In the last fight in the Valley of the End, Sasuke inflicted too much damage to my body and I was dying. Kyuubi, knowing she couldn't escape the seal, did the next best thing. She used an ancient ritual to bind me to her dying request when she died to save me. And her request was for me to become famous in the shinobi world and for her to have a legacy. And so, when I woke up in my mind, I found the fox gone and in place of her, a whole library of stuff with letter telling me what she did and a book list to study. So after training for 3 years in my mind, I wake up having only slept for one year in the real world. That's the short version of it. Any questions?"

As the group stared blank faced at the blonde, there was silence. "Kyuubi's a she?" asked Kiba. As the group minus Gaara picked themselves up from a facefault at the stupid question, Naruto answered, "yeah. From the reading list, the scroll that explained her attacking Konoha was rather lame. It seems that female foxes, no matter how omnipotent, are susceptible to mind warping genjutsu when they're PMSing."

Again, as his audience picked themselves up from a facefault, with the exception of Gaara who just had a twitching nerve right over the kanji above his eye, Naruto chuckled. It was soothing for those around him to hear the long absent sound. "Ok. That will do for an explanation for now, but as the Hokage, I need to hear every detail of the 3 mental years in your head. But you can do that after a trip to the Ichiraku Ramen Stand. I bet the old man misses his best customer." said Tsunade with a wink.

"I don't mind sharing what happened. If you guys want to come too, you're certainly welcome to. I mean, you're the only people that cared if I lived or died over the past year." Naruto said with a sad smile.


Moments later found the entire gang, minus the adults at Ichiraku Ramen. An eating contest had sprung up between Chouji and Naruto. In the end, Naruto lost by one bowl of miso ramen. Seeing the time, Naruto said he had to go see Tsunade. Surprised, the entire gang got up and walked with him. Seeing this, Naruto smiled. 'As long as I have my precious people, I can live with the hatred of the rest.'