THE DARK GATE

A NARUTO BASED FAN FIC

WRITTEN BY:

KYUBI-X

Chapter 4: A Shocking Revelation!

To say that all eight of the teens trying to continue their day to day lives were on edge was the understatement of the year. None of them could even concentrate on practice or even simple missions. All the sensei's decided that there was no point in doing anything until Naruto had gotten better so they were all dismissed from duties until further notice. Ever since Naruto's actions, the group of eight had decided that they needed to get to know each other better so they began to have weekly meetings together at a certain little ramen restaurant. Then the news came to them shortly after their meeting was over, Naruto was awake, and the Hokage demanded an immediate meeting in his room.

All eight teens rushed to the hospital and up to Naruto's room as fast as they could. They rushed into the room and looked at a tired looking Tsunade who was gently stroking a pale skinned Naruto's hair. He looked up at all of them and gave them a pained smile that shook them to the core, never had they seen Naruto in this state…just what exactly had they done to him?

Tsunade stood and ordered them all to gather around Naruto's bed, they all complied and she got their attention by clearing her throat. "I need you all to pay attention because there is someone who needs to explain a few things to you and offer you all the chance of a lifetime so I suggest that you all listen up, go ahead Morino…" Tsunade said tiredly as she plopped down into a chair revealing Morino who had been standing in the corner the whole time.

They all tensed up seeing the man that did those horrible things to their friend. He simply raised a hand and began to speak, "Before anyone does anything hasty I am going to take the time to tell you a few important things and offer you all positions in this village that have never been offered and have been debated over by this village's elders for quite a long time…" He looked around the room and saw everyone relax; he then looked over at Naruto only to find to no surprise that he had fallen asleep again.

Morino cleared his throat before he spoke again, "Now before I tell you what the seventh level of torture was I want to explain the real reason behind this exercise, it was created only to seek out a suitable leader, but who would have thought it would have been that loudmouth huh? But he did it, he made it threw all seven of the levels, something only done by one other man in our history. However, that is not important right now, for now I will explain the seventh level to you all as best as I can. The seventh level is actually a jutsu named, "The chains of fate no jutsu… It really is a dangerous jutsu because it works by wrapping the victim in barbed chains that drain the victim of not only chakra, but also of soul power too. Basically, if your soul power runs out then it is game over. And the jutsu was created to suck the soul energy and charka completely out of the victim. However, it seems your friend is quite a special case, he managed to survive, but the damage done ravaged his body and he is going to have to be in rehabilitation for quite a long time.(the Kyubi has also been drained and therefore will not be able to help Naruto heal until he himself heals) This is where the offer for a new position comes into play, if you would all be willing to move under the same roof and take care of Naruto until he gets better than I wish to offer you all, Naruto included, to become a new branch off of Kohona's underground nin's. We would of course make Naruto the leader, but you would all play a key role in becoming Kohona's very first rouge ops team. So what do you say?"

An eerie silence filled the room as the eight teens mulled over everything that they had just been told, including that evil jutsu that had put Naruto in such a weak state. Suddenly, Sasuke broke the silence by asking, "Why put us all under the same roof at one time? Why not just switch off week by week, wouldn't that be easier?"

Morino smiled at the question and answered it very simply, "The point of this mission is to create a central team unity, you will all be pushed to your limits taking care of Naruto and you are going to have to learn how to work together, this would also be a great time to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses, and learn which roles you could play in a rouge ops position. Maybe you can even learn how to get along with each other."

All the teens looked at each other and then all looked at Tsunade and Morino and said together, "We not only accept the mission of taking care of our fallen teammate until he gets better but we also accept the offer of becoming the first ever rouge ops team to serve and protect Kohona!"

Tsunade and Morino smiled and told the teens that they would finalize all the paperwork tomorrow and that for now they should spend some alone time with Naruto one by one. With that Tsunade and Morino teleported to her office to discuss the plans for a home and to make up the paperwork for the rouge ops team. All the teens looked at each other and then decided on the following order for visitation.

1. Sakura
2. Sasuke (With an armed ANBU guard due to his still standing probation around Naruto)
3. Shikamaru
4. Choji
5. Ino
6. Hinata
7. Kiba
8. Shino

After the order had been finalized everyone with the exception of Sakura left the room to give her the privacy she deserved to have with her teammate. As soon as they closed the door she ran to Naruto's bed and collapsed at his side crying and holding onto his hand whispering out how sorry she was for all the times she had treated him like trash. She began to reminisce about all the memories she had with Naruto and realized that he had never once given up on her even though she spent all her time and energy on Sasuke, she decided after the confession about what happened that second time at the valley of the end that she would never feel the same about Sasuke again even if he had changed. She now knew without a doubt that she could never fall in love with him again after all he had done.

When Sasuke entered the room with the ANBU guard they were both surprised to see Sakura asleep, half her body on Naruto's while holding his hand. Sasuke called in Shikamaru and he carried Sakura back out into the waiting room muttering something about how troublesome emotional girls were. After Shikamaru left, Sasuke walked over to Naruto's side and the ANBU took a place in the corner never taking his eyes off the raven haired boy.

"Stupid baka….what did you have to go and do something that foolish for huh, still trying to play the hero aren't you?" Sasuke said with a sad look in his eyes as he looked over his teammate's sleeping form. "I know that we never had a good relationship and our fights showed it, but you changed me you baka, now you are my only family, I only hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me some day…" Sasuke said these words letting his mask of toughness slip slightly before putting back on his cold and calculating look and walked out with the ANBU in tow.

Shikamaru stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He stood there for a few minuets with his eyes closed taking in deep breaths trying to get the images of his friend being tortured without mercy out of his head. He finally got a grip on himself and walked over to the bed and brought a chair forward so he could sit next to his friend. "How troublesome of you….making us do all this work of taking care of you because you were to thick skulled to just give up when you should have." Shikamaru said as tears fell from his eyes in admiration of his new found leader. Shikamaru spent the rest of the time just looking at the sleeping form of his friend in silence before Choji entered the room and swapped places with Shikamaru.

Now it was true that Choji didn't know Naruto as well as Shikamaru did, but Choji still considered Naruto to be one of his very best friends, not to mention one of the few people that could out eat him when it came to ramen. Choji just sat in semi-silence as he munched on his chips and thought about all the memories Naruto had given him. "No worries Naruto, we will all help you to get better in no time." Choji said and stood up just as Ino stepped into the room.

Choji walked out and Ino walked by him with teary eyes. Choji shut the door behind him and Ino slowly walked up to Naruto's bed. She sank down into the chair and the tears began to fall again as she pictured Sasuke's hand piercing his chest. She sank her head into his stomach gently and began to sob for Naruto who was willing to sacrifice his life even for someone like her who always just acted like he wasn't there when Sasuke was around. She also remembered that the only times she spoke to Naruto was when she wanted to yell at him for something. She kept getting out in between her sobs, "I'm so sorry Naruto." Over and over again. All too soon, her time was up and Hinata entered the room. A teary Ino walked up and gave Hinata a hug before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Hinata began to cry even before she could make it to Naruto's bed. She tired to figure out in her mind why he tried so hard all the time even when it put his life on the line. She began to wonder if it was the Kyubi and Naruto trying to prove to everyone else that he wasn't the demon or what. But there was one thing that she did know; she had to see just what this horrible jutsu had done to his body. And there she was at the side of his bed. Very slowly and carefully she grabbed the sheets and pulled them back.

She had to stifle back a scream at the sight she saw. Naruto's body was covered in cuts and gashes and the seal that held back the Kyubi was glowing black and red and seemed to be in a state of chaos. Hinata held back the urge to faint and activated her bloodline limit and saw that the separate chakra system of the Kyubi had all but shut down. She also saw that the Kyubi was in worse shape than Naruto due to the soul power draining, which was a main source of the great demon's power. She suddenly understood why the Kyubi wasn't healing Naruto's wounds; it was because the stress that the Kyubi underwent to try and keep constantly healing the boy put the Kyubi into a deep state of sleep until it was fully recharged.

All of this was too much for Hinata and she just barely managed to pull the covers back over Naruto before she collapsed to the floor and fainted. It was a few minuets after this that Kiba entered the room and gasped at the image of Hinata on the floor. He ran to her and checked her vital signs before realizing that she had simply passed out. He picked her up and carried her back out into the waiting room.

After that he walked back into Naruto's room. "Hey fool, you sure are much stronger than I gave you credit for. I hope you can hear me Naruto, I know you aren't one to give up so don't you dare even think about it or I'll pound your stupid head in ok?" Kiba said holding back his tears and putting on the tough act. He gently patted Naruto's shoulder and stood to his feet and walked out because he didn't have much else to say.

Shino was the last one to enter the room. He passed Kiba without speaking and went straight to Naruto's bed and sat down. Kiba shut the door behind him and Shino looked to the door for a few moments before turning back and staring at the blonde haired boy who saved them all from torture. True to his nature, he didn't say anything and just sat their and mulled over his thoughts of his future leader.

Everyone in the living room wondered what was taking Shino so long, he had been in the room longer than anyone else and they were starting to get worried. Not but a few minuets after they thought about it. Shino stepped out of the room with his hands in his pockets and simply said, "He's awake…someone go get Tsunade."

A/N: Heh, I enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you enjoy, please read and review! And once again I thank everyone for their reviews so far, you guys are great!