Sesshoumaru-dono: Thanks for the review! I hope that the story develops well and grammatical errors are kept to a minimum. :)

I hope everyone enjoys this instalment!


One

The three arrived at the hospital and were greeted by Tsunade-sama, Konoha's 5th Hokage. They nodded with respect for the Hokage before proceeding to place their friend on one of the stretchers offered by Shizune and some others. Tsunade-sama noted their fatigue and ordered for them to be taken care of by Genma. The two declined as they were much more worried for their friend than for their own state.

Strangers clothed in black without any form of identification is unusual for any shiniobi, unless these lot are missing nins or renegades who are on the S-list of every village thought Tsunade. The shorter female was of small stature, blue eyes and dark brown hair that is falls chin-length while the other male, had spiked blond hair and green eyes, the masked strangers were all business and urgency.

And it was of no wonder, from the initial examination of their friend she could tell he was in a bad state - very bad state. The young man who was being transferred from the stretcher to a proper examination bed was soaked in blood. Gapping wounds in the abdominal regions, thigh and arms. Shizune removed the clothing (except the mask which the other two protested fervently not to) only to reveal a very battered body, of blacked bruises and more cuts. Placing a hand onto the young man's chest, Tsunade-sama noted very erratic chakra flow through out the body and no wonder, the guy suffered from internal organ damages, broken bones - ribs, ferma, humerous etc, practically most of the insides were messed up. Interestingly, he is still lying there breathing quite steadily for someone in such a state. She could tell that someone had used a jutsu to prevent any more damage and to actually bubble-wrap a protective layer of chakra around the major organs and on top of that, his pain was already taken care of. This man, she just realised was in a deep sleep, not a concussion. Someone intervened to make sure he wasn't suffering too much and bought time so that he could receive for proper treatment. This was one very fortunate young man but its question of how long the luck will stretch.

Tsunade-sama activated a jutsu to release some chakra into the young man's body to facilitate healing to the damaged major systems for a few minutes before leaving more instructions for Shizune to carry on healing procedures with others for him. She needed to speak to his comrades. Strolling out of the treatment area, she reached the lounge where the two were sitting stiffly on the couches. Fatigue grazed their expression, on top of sheer worry.

"Your friend was very fortunate to have someone intervening which has placed him in a stable state. However, I have to tell you honestly that he suffers from a great deal of injury to which he will require quite a long stay. What concerns me is whether he can take it."

"But didn't you just say that he was in a stable state!" The girl jumped from hearing Tsunade's words.

"Yes, stable in the sense that he is able to breathe fine but the main problem is that the person who performed the life-saving jutsu, did too great a job. I am somehow unable to get around the jutsu to do my job properly, unless you are able to tell me what sort of stuff the person did."

Their faces fell. Despair was written on their faces.

"No, we can't. Another friend was the one who performed the jutsu. We haven't the faintest idea." The girl confessed.

"So we need that friend to get back to either finish off fixing him or at least removed the justu, am I right?" The taller guy concluded from everything.

"Yes, but rest assure that he will receive the best care that we can offer him. If the procedure can go smoothly, chances of survival will increase and we need not have to depend on the return of the previous saviour." She tried to smile so as to comfort them. They reciprocated the smile and thanked her. Just then, at that point, she noted,

"Can I have a look at the two of you? I have enough suspicion to believe that you two are not scathed-free yourselves." The two individuals look down at themselves before smiling sheepishly,

"Ne, it appears that we are not."

Indeed it was true, the two of them upon examination (whilst still refusing to remove their masks! To which, Kakashi Syndrome was diagnosed for this funny behaviour), Tsunade-sama found that the girl's body was pretty battered up with the worse diagnosis of only a sprained left ankle which was inflamed. The other young man wasn't so lucky, he apparently wasn't aware that he actually broken his right arm in a few places. The two were too preoccupied with their friend to that extent. Admirable as it was, it was just as foolish not to take care of themselves she chided, before having them escorted by to the spare rooms in the neighbouring apartments where most of jounins stayed. She wouldn't hear of them staying around until they got some rest themselves. After they left, she couldn't help but to wonder about the nagging behaviour that she was starting to develop, was she getting that old?

Meanwhile, she had the injured friend transferred to a critical-care unit where there was constant watch over him. Also, she had also initiated Anbu squad to watch over the lot of them. Until she knew who were they, she wasn't about to compromise the village security that easily. After all, the village is now her responsibility.


Two days later.

A lazy Kakashi was making his way back to the village. He has just completed a last mission that Tsunade-sama assigned to him. These days, there weren't many things for him aside from missions. Naruto is now under Jiraiya-sama's wing, Sakura is an apprentice to Tsunade-sama and Sasuke is currently just missing from plain sight. Life was getting rather boring for the jounin. Well, at least he still has his Come Come Paradise novels to keep him occupied, speaking of which, he whipped out one from his back pocket and proceeded forth from where he left off earlier. He would be reaching the gates soon where he would need to register his return.

The registry system is getting to be quite a hassle but I do agree that it helps to regulate and keep track of people coming in and out of Konoha. Ja, nevermind that, now where was I.... Ahh yes, Chapter 12.

And the jounin's mind went off into the world of his books.


Ouch.

A mental curse went off as yet another shot of pain coursed through the system. Another clothed figure stands at the base of a tree near the entrance of Konoha. The last fight had really messed up the insides of the body and the pain was intensifying at every step taken. Blood has stopped oozing but still, there's not much one can do with so little chakra left. It had been spent trying to locate the others and following their trail left on the trees which has lead all the way to the hidden village.

Ok. I'm starting to have double-vision. Not a good sign. I hope I don't pass out before I get through those gates.

Hands rubbed the throbbing temples at the side of the head. Breathing was starting to get to be a really taxing task now. Boy, was trouble nearby.

All right. There is no fat way will I able to sneak in, not with this little chakra left. I shall just walk in like a normal person and hopefully not collapse into a heap until I find the others.

A resolution could be made, but it need not mean that it was going to go as planned. Taking in a deep breath, the figure crossed onto the main path and walked towards the gates. Step by step, the figure made her way down the path. With each step, consciousness was slipping away.

Oh darn it. I'm really not going to make it.

And with the next step, the figure went down unceremoniously.


Kakashi was only half-observing the figure that appeared some distance in front of him, since it appears that they were heading for the same place. And before he could do a Houdini thing and get to the gates first, the figure just suddenly collapsed. Fortunately, he was quick enough to catch and prevent any form of concussion should the head came into contact with the hard ground. Upon examination, he found that the loose cloth wrapping around the head had slipped off, allowing a mass of crimson hair to tumble freely, the face was masked but the sex was very obvious now. Lifting her properly in his arms, he carried her towards the gates where the guards came down from their posts. They informed of similar individuals who have arrived in the village, seeking medical aid. And from the looks of it, the unconscious redhead will need some too. Fast.

And with a 'poof', he arrived in fashion at the village's hospital, right in front of Tsunade-sama.

"Hmm... another Kakashi Syndrome sufferer." She commented as she gestured for him to place her on a bed.

"Kakashi Syndrome?"

"They all seem to have a problem like you. All too fond of their privacy to reveal their faces to us." She muses on as she proceeds to examine the girl.

"And it seems that this one is no better off than the one in CCU."

"What do you mean, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi enquired.

"She suffers from a badly battered body, with messed up insides and plenty of blood loss. The other one is in about the same state she is. It seems to be that they all have been through some war and barely survived it. And even so, how on earth did they manage to get so trashed out." She explained.

"Well, to be honest, Hokage-sama, you are not too far off from the truth." A new voice quipped.

Tsunade and Kakashi turned to find two masked figures standing behind them who appeared out of nowhere, they were still clothed in black but definitely looked more alive than when she last saw them.

Kakashi Syndrome.

The name bearer chuckled internally; he now understood what Tsunade-sama meant. All of them were masked in exactly the same manner as he was and were showing no signs of wanting to reveal their face.

Maybe I started a new trend.

"How is she, Hokage-sama?"

"Not good, my dear."

"Let me have a look." The spiky head one walked over the bedside and checked the girl.

"She needs a jump-start, otherwise the healing isn't going to kick in fast enough. And I think I have enough chakra to do just that."

"Jump-start? Ne! Don't you go meddling in medical affairs if you are not trained in it." Tsunade was about to launch into one of her nagging lectures. But stopped as she saw that he was about to perform a jutsu. By a gesture of a few hand seals, he then placed his hands (even the side with a broken arm) over the heart. Golden chakra was steadily spilling out of his hands into her. After a few minutes, an unusual reaction occurred.

Tsunade-sama watched as the girl's own blue chakra starting to seep out of her body and wrapped itself around her. To which, by this time, the young man stopped sharing his own chakra and watched intensively as the chakra continued to flow all over, engulfing the entire being in it. The fire-like chakra looks as if it would burn the bed down but didn't. The girl's breathing was smoothing out and the graze marks on her face was starting to disappear.

"It's done. She's now on her way to healing herself and should be up after a day or two."

Fiery chakra. This is definitely not something you see everyday. Who are these people? Kakashi and Tsunade looked at each other. Tsunade herself walked over and checked. Indeed, the body was in the process of healing itself at a rather quick pace. Maybe she was a highly-skilled medic-nin but still, this chakra that was coming out the girl wasn't like she has ever encountered before. Why, this is even more advanced than her own regenerative seal! Just who are these people??

"Hokage-sama." Her attention to her thoughts was cut off.

"I know everything is not making sense at the moment, but we can assure you that we would give a satisfactory account to you. However, we do ask for confidentially after we disclose information about ourselves." The Spikey one spoke.

"For now, we will just have to wait until she recovers before lending assistance to help fix the other one up."

"She's the one whose jutsu is blocking my work progress with your other friend?" It was starting to get really weird not being to address them by name. Ne. The lot of them refuse to disclose even their name.

"Yup. It's all her work." Tsunade's curiosity couldn't help but be elevated yet another notch. Mystery surrounds the lot of them. Kakashi by now was preoccupied with reading his book, to which she cut short his leisurely enjoyment and ordered him to her office. There was work to be done. She then left the two of them to watch over their friend who was to be transferred to a proper room to recuperate. For now, she has yet another task for the lazy jounin.