Conundrum

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary: Naruto is no longer a part of the Leaf. Where has he gone to all these years? No one heard of him for quite some time. What happens when he returns for a visit and bearing a few 'gifts'. Life is just a series of questions that need answering.

Formats:

"...Speech..."

'...Thoughts..'

Chapter 2: Pons Asinorum

Two Years Ago

Shikamaru sat hunched over on a bench in one of the corridors of the hospital. The mission to retrieve the defecting Uchiha Sasuke had gone terribly wrong. Thinking back, he should not have been the one to lead this particular mission. He is too inexperienced; his skill is limited to his capable mind and shadow manipulation techniques. Every time he goes into battle, it's like playing Go where one of his pieces is accountable to 5 of his opponent's. For every piece he laid down on the board, he tack a 5 points advantage in favor of his opponent; an inescapable disadvantage. Now, two members of his retrieval team are fighting for their lives in the hospital's surgery. His best friend, Chouji apparently used his family secret weapon and burned through his fat at an incredible rate in exchange for quick burst of strength and speed. Now it's threatening to burn away all of his muscle leaving only skin and bones if Tsunade couldn't stop the process. His other teammate, Neji, suffering from major blood loss and multiple puncture wounds serious enough that he could lose some of his limbs if not his life.

Two more of his teammates are unaccounted for, missing in the thick forest near the border of Fire Country. He fears the worst for Naruto and Kiba. His lapse in judgement and leadership is going to cost the lives two more of his friend and teammate. He looked over towards the others with him in the corridor; Gaara, Temari, Kankurou and Lee. If not for the four of them rushing in as backup, all of them would've have died there in the forest. For that he was grateful. Nonetheless, that still leaves them with his two missing friends. Two squads of ANBU and a handful of jounins have already been dispatched for the search. He hopes they would be found soon. No doubt both of them are badly injured. However, the downpour that ended merely few hours ago making the search and rescue difficult, almost impossible it seems.

The door that led to the surgery room swung open, revealing a tired Tsunade. She has a small smile upon her face but her eyes are still clouded with worry. She walked up to the group waiting in the corridor. "Chouji and Neji's conditions have both stabilized. All they need now is plenty of rest." Tsunade sat down on a bench opposite to Shikamaru. "Now, Shikamaru, tell me what happened out there."

Shikamaru sigh helplessly and begin to account the detail of the mission as verbose as he possibly can. He accounts the initial encounter with the Sound 4 which leads up to the first split in the group, leaving Chouji to do battle with the bulky Jiroubou so that they can pursue the rest of the Sound group and afterwards Neji was left to fight the multi-armed spider freak. As the next day comes each of them are facing their opponents on their own with Naruto ahead of the group in pursuit of the newly appeared reinforcement from the Sound that carries away the container they suspect holding Sasuke inside it. Kiba had already no where to be found after a big explosion occurred when they were confronting one of the two remaining Sound 4. Shikamaru was left by himself fending off the last of the Sound 4 which he probably had no hope of defeating.

As he was almost got finished off, Temari appeared and the fighting came to an abrupt end with the easy defeat of the Sound-nin. They then set out ahead towards the direction Naruto had taken. Kankurou joined them after awhile as he couldn't track the others. When they come to a clearing, they watched as the fight between Lee, Gaara and the weird bone-using Sound-nin came to an end. Shikamaru was a bit puzzled; where were Naruto … and Sasuke, and what was Lee doing here. When they left he was still recovering from his surgery. He was about to voice out his question to the boy when they all felt a powerful burst of chakra. Lee mentioned that was the direction where Naruto was off to in pursuit of Sasuke. Looking briefly at the others and assessing they were all more or less still in good conditions, he motioned them to follow him to the source of the chakra burst.

They came to a cascading waterfall pitted between two huge statues embedded into the valley's walls and watched in horror at the scene before them. The landscape was riddled with craters due to explosions and devastating impact. The water looks like it was boiling probably due to fire jutsus thrown at it. What horrified them more was seeing Sasuke standing on top of the water with one hand holding up Naruto by the neck and the other hand plunged through Naruto's right chest coming out of his back. So stunned at the sight, they could barely move. Sasuke now noticing the newcomers quickly dislodges his hand and threw Naruto aside falling over the next waterfall and into the raging river below. Gaara quickly tried to catch Naruto with his sand but it was too late. After Naruto crash into the water below, he was quickly swept away by the current. It didn't help that the water was really muddy; they lost sight of him only a few seconds after he fell.

Sasuke has already fled through the woods towards whatever his destination was. Shikamaru quickly asked Gaara, Lee and Kankurou to pursue Sasuke while Temari and he search for Naruto. After running along the bank of the river for awhile desperately scanning for signs of Naruto, the river split into 3 branches making the search even more futile. Both of them decide to turn back and hopefully get some reinforcement to conduct a full scale search. Shikamaru can only hope Naruto can hold out for a rescue team to find him. It's hard for him to do this but he had no choice, they lack man power and tracking abilities.

When they reached the valley where they split up, they saw Gaara, Lee and Kankurou coming out of the forest. No sign of Sasuke. Apparently there were some Sound-nins distracting them so that Sasuke could get away. By the time all of them were dispatched, Sasuke was long gone. They quickly made their way back to Konoha to get help. On their way back, Neji and Chouji was found in critical condition along with their Sound opponents dead. Gaara put them in to individual sand cocoon and continue on their way. Kiba was still no where to be found. Hopefully, he doesn't share the same fate as Naruto.

Tsunade's brows furrowed as Shikamaru ended his narration. She had already dispatched 2 ANBU squads, and even Kakashi, Gai and the Inuzukas (Kiba's mother and sister insisted on going) to search for the genins even before the group returns. 2 medic squads are hot on their tail to give necessary medical aid if needed. It is all that she can spare from their dwindled forces after Orochimaru's attack on the Leaf. If she had not been the Hokage, she herself would have gone on the search. She would never admit it out loud but she really fond of the blonde-haired boy who managed to convince her to take up the job. His determination and spirit easily weed through her stone cold exterior she put up as a result of losing someone close to her and resurfaced her own spirit to continue protecting this village. Now all that she can do is wait and hope for the best.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino had rushed to the hospital when they heard the Sasuke retrieval team had returned, only to find that two of them are missing, two more are critically injured and the team had ultimately failed to bring back Sasuke. Now both Ino and Sakura huddled together in the waiting area, plague with worry over their respective teammates. For Ino, she felt like her world was crumbling around her. She may not show it too often and bad-mouth them every chance she gets, but she cares deeply for both of her teammates. It was made much worst that they were hurt in retrieving Sasuke, the boy she was vying for attention for as long as she can remember. For the first time since she had known Sasuke, she cursed him with all her being. If he hadn't been obsessed with gaining more power, Chouji wouldn't land into this predicament.

'Naruto … Kiba….' She didn't know both of them that well as she quickly considered them to be loud and annoying that she write them off as possible friend back at the academy. Even so, she knew that both of them don't deserve such fate no matter how much she wanted to wring their heads off when they annoyed her at times. She looked over at Sakura, knew that she is hurting with two of her teammates out there somewhere not knowing whether they're alive or not. She sighs, when is it that things got so complicated she wondered. 'Come back home you guys.'

Sakura's mind had gone numb the moment she heard the news. Not only had she lost Sasuke but now she is losing her other teammate as well. She shouldn't have made Naruto promise to be Sasuke back. Knowing how Naruto was with his promises, he would be willing to give up his own life to fulfill it. But somehow she knew that if he hadn't made that promise, he would still go all out to get Sasuke back. That's just who he is, just as he never gives up in battle he would never give up on his friends. He would do anything just to keep them safe. But still she could not shake the feeling that it was ultimately her fault.

Her relationship with Naruto as a teammate is not something anyone would call healthy. When the team was first formed, she quickly judge that Naruto would only amount to being a mere obstacle to her from gaining Sasuke's affection. Ironically Sasuke was more appreciative of Naruto's involvement with the team. Even more ironic is her calling Naruto a worthless shinobi when it was her that had nothing to contribute to the team. The only time she had done something for the team was back in the second part of the Chuunin Exam when both of the boys were incapacitated, and even that only served to give her the worst beating of her life. If not for the interference of the other Leaf genin teams all three of them would have been dead at the hand of the Sound-nin.

For anyone else, Naruto's triumph against the genius Hyuuga Neji in the final part of the Chuunin exam would have been an eye opener. Not her, she was still in denial, not wanting to admit she had someone pegged so far from what he really is. Even when the Exam escalated into war, and learned later on that it was Naruto that saved her from the sand crazed Gaara, she hadn't truly admitted it. The least she could do was thank him for the selfless act. Now it would probably be too late. If Naruto is not found or didn't survive this mission how could she ever live with the regret of not appreciating someone who has done for her more than Sasuke ever did. She prayed that would not come to be.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

Elsewhere, Naruto is having a bad day; in fact he was certain this is the worst day he ever experienced. The hole in his chest Sasuke made with the Chidori is hurting like hell. He can't move his right arm without adding to the pain he's already suffering. He couldn't understand why his normally fast healing didn't work this time. He figured that he was probably too exhausted that his chakra is too low to kick start the healing process. Trying to smooch some chakra from Kyuubi came out short. The blasted kitsune's probably ignoring his call just for the fun of it. He kept a mental note to annoy the ancient kitsune when he gets out of this hellhole.

Speaking of hellhole, he couldn't much closer to it than he already has now. Being swept away unconscious, nearly drowned, he was fished out by Kiba who was evading the Sound-nin he was fighting after both he and Akamaru was injured rather badly. After hiding among the trees for awhile to gather their breaths, they were jumped by the Sound-nin. Naruto were confused that there were two Sound-nins when he thought Kiba was facing only one of them. While blocking and dodging blows as best they could in their injured conditions, Kiba explained the situation. When presented with an opening in the Sound-nin's defenses, Naruto quickly plunge a Rasengan drilling a hole into one of the attacking Sound-nin's stomach, killing him instantly. Thank god Kiba still have some of his soldier pills no matter how much it tastes like dog poop. Kiba and Akamaru weren't so lucky. Kiba had gotten a deep cut across his back and a kick to the head throwing him to the ground. He was holding Akamaru at the time, so when he crashed to the ground Akamaru was crushed underneath him breaking few more bones. The sound-nin however didn't manage to follow through with his attack when Naruto hit him with another Rasengan to his back and he goes flying head first into a boulder.

Reaching Kiba's side Naruto pulled Akamaru from underneath Kiba, finding that the puppy is still alive but unconscious. Kiba while still conscious was delirious due to the pain from the wound on his chest and back. He knew that there was nothing much he could do to relieve his pain, this kind of wound calls for more than just first aid, and he was not trained in any medical techniques. His best chance was to bring them both back to Konoha. He just hoped to both of them can hold out for the trip. It was right about then he painfully realized that the mission was a failure, Sasuke must have been long gone, and he had broken his promise to Sakura. But he can't be worried about it now. Sakura can yell and beat him up later; right now his friend's life is in danger. Putting Akamaru inside his jacket and painfully holding Kiba by his side he slowly made his way back to Konoha. Though his legs were shaking violently due to Kiba's added weight and his right arm felt like it could drop to the ground at any moment, he strengthens his resolve and continued his trek through the woods. He will not lose another one of his friends not when he can help it, not when he still has the ground underneath his feet. Every step he takes means Kiba will have a bigger chance of surviving this.

Beneath Naruto's clothes on his navel, the seal keeping Kyuubi, the greatest demon to ever walk the earth, imprisoned begin to change.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

Dusk approaches and still no sign of the two genins can be found anywhere. The ANBU and medic squads turned up with nothing. Even Kakashi's and the Inuzuka's hunter dog could not sniff them out. The fact that it rained heavily before and that Naruto was swept away in a raging river made it worse. Kakashi and the Inuzuka were adamant on continuing the search even at night, and Tsunade was not going to argue with them. She did however urge them to take one medic team with them to assist. They would be heading out again after re-supplying and getting few minutes to catch their breaths.

Later that night, Tsunade sat in her office at the hospital waiting for any news from the search team. She knew the hope of finding them alive is slimming with every passing moment. Thankfully the moon still shine brightly tonight, it will help with the search. Suddenly she could hear a commotion from outside her room before her door was swung open by Shizune. "They're here, Tsunade-sama and they're badly injured."

Tsunade didn't wait for Shizune to finished the sentence, she was already out of the room rushing to the scene outside. Kakashi and the Inuzukas entered the hospital carrying both Naruto and Kiba who looks like someone dipped them in a pool of blood and rolled onto a dust and grime covered ground. She quickly motions them to follow her to the surgery. "Where did you find them?"

"Not far from the gate. As we were heading out, they had just come out of the forest onto the road leading towards the gate. Apparently Naruto carried Kiba and Akamaru all the way here. He was barely conscious and about ready to drop when we found them." Said Kakashi while carrying Naruto into the surgery and laid him onto a bed.

As both of the genins were laid onto their respective beds, Tsunade again as she did before with Neji and Chouji, couldn't help but felt disturbed by their conditions. Sure she had seen worse before, but these boys are just children, too young to suffer such injuries. "Shizune you take care of Kiba that cut across his back looked deep, dangerously close to his spine. I'll take care of Naruto."

The surgery was a whirlwind of nurses all carrying out their duties bringing tools and healing supplies to keep the two boys alive. Tsunade and Shizune worked feverishly, attending to wounds and broken bones with both seals and healing jutsus. Kiba's wounds doesn't seemed to be life threatening but he did lost a lot of blood and luckily enough the deep cut on his back doesn't seem to affect his spinal cord. The piercing wound in his gut however did penetrate some of his organs.

Naruto on the other hand, has a nasty hole in his chest that from what Shikamaru told her must the work of Uchiha Sasuke. Blood seemed to flow freely from the wound, it is a wonder he is still alive much less carry Kiba all the way back here. It's understandable though that Naruto have a much higher pain tolerance than Kiba. Looking at wound more closely, Tsunade was puzzled as to why the boy seemed to be healing rather slowly this time. It was like the time Kabuto cut his flow of chakra to prevent him from healing. But there is no sign if that is the case right now. With the Kyuubi he should be healing at a rapid pace. No time to be contemplating about that right now, she has to do what ever it takes to keep him alive.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

Kakashi and Kiba's mother sat waiting outside the surgery not wanting to be in the way of the medics working on the two boys. Less than an hour later Kiba's sister joined them having completed treating Akamaru's various broken bones. They mostly sat in silence pondering on what had happened. Almost losing loved ones can do that to the best of them.

Jiraiya had joined them after a while, concerned over his student. He was not able to help in the search as he had just returned from a mission. When he heard about Sasuke's defection, he couldn't help notice the irony of it all. The one that was always revered by the villagers as the pride of Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke, turns out to be a traitor. And the one who was scorned as the bane of Konoha, did everything he could to protect them even at the cost of his life. How reminiscent this is to what happened to his own team long ago when Orochimaru betrayed the village for something as petty as envy for not being named Hokage. Now history repeats itself, everything has come to a full circle; he just hoped that it all doesn't spin out of control. Dammit, he has 'research' to do for his loyal fans, how can he do that if some Uchiha brat thought it was a good idea to put his kawaii deshi in hospital fighting for his life. Jiraiya sighs, thinking about all the missed peeping opportunity. Somebody is going to pay for this.

Suddenly the surgery room doors swung open by Tsunade for the second time that day. She turned to Kiba's mother and said "Kiba is fine, his wounds were serious but we were able to patch it up. Though he is still unconscious, he should wake up in a day or two. I'll have him transferred to the room where his friends are." The Inuzukas looked relieved at the news.

"What about Naruto?" Kakashi asked, though he dreaded the answer that would come. Seeing that look on Tsunade's face, it's almost like the one he always saw from the doctors bringing news of his lost comrades.

"Naruto had a few complications, he stopped breathing a couple of time but we were able to bring him back. The damage to his body is extensive and he lost a lot of blood. Though we repaired the worst of his injuries, his body just couldn't cope with the blood loss and severe exhaustion from having to carry Kiba all the way here in his injured state. I don't know when he will wake up." Tsunade still couldn't understand it. Naruto always heal at a rapid pace, she had surmised that his body adapted to Kyuubi's excess chakra by redirecting it to induce rapid cell and chakra regeneration. But when she used a scanning jutsu to diagnose him she could only see normal regeneration rate. It's like Kyuubi's chakra aren't present at all. But the seal was still intact, though she could see that something seems a bit off about it. "Jiraiya, I need you to take a look at something. The rest of you, go home for now, you can visit tomorrow."

The others left, though Kakashi seemed a little reluctant to leave his student. Some people might say that he blatantly favors Sasuke than Naruto, but the truth is he always tried to follow in the footsteps of his own sensei, Yondaime, not favoring one student for the other. It's true that he left Naruto on his own during the break before the final part of the chuunin exam, but Sasuke need to be protected from Orochimaru. He had planned to take over Naruto's training after a week or two but by then surprisingly Naruto had somehow convinced Jiraiya to train him. He was better off under Jiraiya tutelage seeing that Jiraiya himself was Yondaime's sensei. All of this wouldn't have happened if he taught Sasuke more on the importance of teamwork and comradery. He himself had learned it the hard way. He sighs and trod back to his home, praying that Naruto would make it through this.

xxxxxXXXXxxxxx

"So what did you want me to see" Jiraiya had followed Tsunade into the surgery room and approached Naruto's bed which is surrounded by various instruments recording vital signs and various IVs dripping nutrients and painkillers. Naruto himself is covered with bandages from chest up clad in lose hospital robe.

"Take a look at his seal. I'm not really familiar with the seal but I know it changed somehow, subtle but I can't make sure if it's in danger of breaking or not." Tsunade pulled aside Naruto's hospital robe a bit to uncover his abdomen and mold some chakra over it to force the seal to surface.

Jiraiya bent down to take a closer look at the seal. Yes, there are subtle changes to the seal; he tried to remember what Arashi had said about the seal before he used it. When Arashi had presented the seal to him for second opinion, he was surprised at its intricacy; truly his student is a genius of seals much like he's genius in every other field. He pried his brain, for details that could explain the seal's sudden transformation. Then it suddenly clicked in his head "Hah, the seal is going into stage two! It really happened, Arashi didn't know for sure if this would happen, he had hope that even if this stage didn't come to pass Naruto would simply take Kyuubi with him when he die. Now it changes everything!"

"Stage two? What the hell is stage two? And what the hell does it do?" Tsunade is getting irritated at Jiraiya and his cryptic words. Here she was worrying about her 'little brother' and he decided to play mind games with her. She refrained from knocking him through the wall, as she still needs an explanation. Once he's finished, she would let him have it.

"Hey calm down. It only means that Kyuubi is finally put to rest. And Naruto would finally have his life back!" Said Jiraiya with a smile.

Author's Notes:

This chapter and a few after this will deal on how Naruto gets into his current predicament. Sorry for those who wanted to know what happen after the last chapter. Looks like you have to deal with the cliffhanger for awhile longer.

The title of this chapter, 'Pons Asinorum' means 'A problem that severely tests the ability of an inexperienced person'. Most of the chapters in this story will have titles that involve problems, puzzles and secrets. This chapter depicts the challenge genins are facing in their mission due to their inexperience.

Reader's Review:

Ave-chan Congratulation on being the first to review, here's a non-existent prize for you. I'm glad you enjoyed it and will continue to enjoy it as I update it further. Naruto and the gang are around fifteen in the first chapter and thirteen in this one. No plan for pairings yet. Thanks for all the compliments you gave me.

Jp If there are pairings in the future it will most definitely not be yaoi.

Madnarutofan Thank you, I will continue as long as someone wants to read it. But your jedi mind tricks don't work on me, I've already been seduced by the darkside. Muahahahha.

DSecret Aawww, was I too mean to you leaving you with cliffhanger. Gomen, I will keep the cliff hanger stuff to a minimum next time. Hope this chapter leaves you screaming waiting for what happen after the first chapter though. Muahahahha, I'm really evil; falling to darkside of the force really has its perks.

Nakora-chan More will be revealed as to why Jiraiya blame his perversion for the lost of Naruto. About the name of the Village, I want to name it so that it had some kind of relation to Konoha. Anyway the name is not that close. In Japanese, Fire country would be Hi no Kuni, while Hidden Flame is Honoogakure no Sato, quite different isn't it. But the relation is still there and will be revealed later on. But thanks for the critic. This is the kind of critic I would like to hear.

LbcLostKid I don't think this the pairing will go into NarutoxOC. One thing is that there will be a lot of OCs but they will not be characterized too deeply other than an important few. So I'd like to keep the OCs with character to a minimum.

shina-lim, Arnoldstrife, Stonebridge, kae, ninofchaos, ffgirl-07, JohnnyG Thanks for the review hope you'll keep reading.