The Fourth
Part Four
By Mieren
---
"Kiba…"
"Naruto!" the dog-obsessed boy exclaimed, catching the bloodied figure in front of him. The blond was clearly hurt, horribly disoriented, pale beneath his tan, and shaking almost violently. He was stark naked and his eyes were wild. "What happened?"
"Hide me… please…"
"Yeah, sure," the brunette promised, pulling his friend into his house. "What's going on?" Blue eyes filled with unshed panicked tears.
"I don't know," Naruto groaned. "I was a target of an S class…"
"Shit man," Kiba said. He wanted to flinch away from the jagged wound on his friend's chest. He couldn't understand. Why was Naruto a target? Where was his team? Screw that, why was he naked? "What happened?"
"Mission… S class…"
"I know that, but why you?"
"Don't know… Kakashi did it…"
"What! Shit! You need to tell the Hokage," Kiba said, completely off balance. Now he was completely baffled and Naruto just wasn't making sense.
"NO! Bitch ordered it!" Naruto exclaimed. The exertion caused him to slump, his friend catching him reflexively. Kiba pulled him inside his house.
"What did you do?" he asked urgently. Blue eyes dropped.
"I don't know…"
"And why do you stink?" Always tactful as sarcasm would allow, the Inuzuka clan. Naruto snapped.
"Maybe it's the five inch sucking chest wound!"
"Sorry," he muttered. Though he didn't understand, he slipped one arm around his blond friend and helped him out of the night and the public view. "Come on. I'll patch that up. I'm not that great with a needle, but if you're out for S class, this is the best I can do."
"Thanks."
"In the morning, you owe me an explanation," he groused.
---
"You're sleeping in Akamaru's bed," Kiba stated bluntly. Naruto grunted. "Okay. Let's try this again. Why are you sleeping in Akamaru's bed?"
"You kicked me out of yours," the blond sleepily reminded him.
"You were snoring!"
"Then why are you asking me why I'm over here?"
Kiba pinched his nose. "Then why are you still asleep?"
"Sucking chest wound. Yeah. That sounds good."
"Smart ass," Kiba grumped. He started to lift the blond with one arm before dropping him as though his hand was scolded. "The hell?"
"What?"
"Naruto… why is your skin smoking?"
"I know this why? I think Kakashi does, though."
"Naruto, I can't help you," Kiba started.
"WHY?" Naruto cried, terrified. Kiba was the only person he knew to turn to. His own friends were trying to kill him. The other boy continued as if the blond hadn't said anything.
"Until you tell me what's going on," he finished. "If your own team tried to kill you, you must have really pissed someone off."
"I don't remember," Naruto admitted. It had happened too fast. One moment, he was on a mission with no details, and the next, he was the mission. There had been pain. He remembered screaming, but he didn't know if it was him. He had watched as his friends fell back. Light. The stench of burning flesh. "Oh God… I think I killed Sasuke."
"YOU DID WHAT?" Kiba exclaimed. "How?"
"A tree hit him…"
"A tree?" the dog-nin asked, brow scrunching up. "Are you telling me you hit him with a tree?"
Visions flashed behind blue eyes. Sasuke had fallen back and skidded out of sight. Kakashi had collapsed. He couldn't see Sakura. A baby was crying. There was fire. The flames were everywhere and his skin burned.
"I don't know anymore," Naruto sobbed. His body was on fire and none of his limbs moved properly. He was scared and confused. His legs hurt. His back hurt. All of the hair had burnt off his body except for his head, even his genitals. He couldn't remember what he had done with his clothes or weapons. His brain had shut down to the point that anything beyond simple reasoning fell far beyond his grasp. No wonder Kiba had been looking at him as if he were insane. Why he was still looking at him like he was insane.
"Then we need someone new to help you," Kiba muttered. "Someone who likes you and won't try to dice you to bits. Any names come to mind?"
"Hinata," he breathed. "Or Neji."
"The Hyuuga," Kiba laughed mockingly "That's safe."
"I need someone to see whatever it is that's wrong."
"Wrong?"
"Something… my back…"
Confused still, the dark-haired boy diligently rolled his friend onto his stomach. He had already cleaned up the blond the previous evening and nothing had been wrong with his back. Or anywhere besides the gaping wound in his chest. He pulled up the borrowed shirt and sucked in a stiff breath.
Naruto's back was almost unrecognizable as living tissue. Two identical gashes ran the length of his back from shoulders to hips, blackened and peeling away from the injuries. The flesh was swollen and raised for several inches around each split, deep blue striations streaming from all directions, heaviest from the upturned skin.
"Naruto… I have to take you to a doctor."
"No."
"This is beyond my ability to help," Kiba said forcefully.
"You can't take me in!" Naruto said, pulling away from his friend. "The hospitals won't help me. Kiba… I'm a missing-nin."
---
"This is not funny," Kakashi muttered. He took a clumsy swing at Jiraiya, who had yet to stop snickering at his predicament. "And you're the last person who should be laughing!" he yelled. "You did this!"
"Sorry," the older man managed, not meaning it at all. The harsh reminder did serve to sober him up. He winced and turned his gaze away, ashamed. "But you have to admit, this is Naruto's style."
"We thought it would have the reverse effect," Tsunade tried to placate. "We had to send someone young." The teenager in front of her scowled. It was almost cute.
The three-person team had taken the brunt of Naruto's unintentional attack. Expecting them to age horrifically, Tsunade had sent in the youngest people she could find that she thought capable of dealing with Naruto. Of course the blond hadn't exactly cooperated. Kakashi, an experienced jounin in his thirties with a noteworthy height, was now glaring up at her, pouting that he was in puberty again.
Sasuke scowled, nearly causing the sour silver-haired teenager to smirk. The poor chuunin was stuck in early childhood, appearing young enough to enter ninja academy for his first day. He didn't even come up to Tsunade's hip. He had stopped making faces at her for the obvious reason. She wouldn't stop laughing. He glared harder. She had no right to laugh at him. She had ordered him to murder his best friend and now Naruto was missing, injured, and everyone else was trapped under some strange jutsu. At least he and Kakashi had gotten off somewhat lucky. Sakura was in diapers.
"So when does this wear off?" Sasuke asked. His voice squeaked.
"In about ten years for you."
"That's not funny," Sasuke deadpanned. "And for God's sake, you of all people shouldn't be laughing. You ordered me to kill my best friend!"
Chocolate brown eyes closed. "I know," Tsunade sighed. "But it's either laugh at you or cry for what I've done." She opened her eyes but didn't raise them. She didn't dare lest the tears slip down her face. "Sasuke…"
"What?" he asked testily. Two tears fell to the floor. Tsunade's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Naruto Uzumaki died over eighteen years ago."
Jiraiya clenched and unclenched his teeth several times, looking away before he spoke.
"I'm the one who killed him."
---
To Be Continued…
This was typed in a rush to try to explain what my demented mind wanted earlier. I have the whole plot down in my head. It's just so weird that I don't even make sense to myself half of the time. I'll try to explain it all, I promise. This was all started by a weird dream I had after watching too much anime, like most of my stories. Please R&R!