Trigger Warning: Mizuki, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Character Death/Trauma, Depictions of Wounds/Injuries

It was late when Naruto finally got home. He'd worked some extra hours at the hospital since he had the weekend off. Granted, the now-genin would have probably worked the whole weekend until he knew what team he'd be placed on on Monday morning, but Kaiya told him that he deserved some much-needed time off after graduating. For once, the blond-haired teen actually agreed - it had been so long, after all, since he'd gotten the chance to relax.

He took a shower and dressed in his pajamas before heading to the kitchen for a late-night snack. Naruto hadn't been able to eat much while working at the hospital, having to be called in and out of the ICU due to patients' health declining rapidly. The genin paused, trying to clear his thoughts of the hospital and those he'd lost tonight… but it was a little hard since one death, in particular, struck a little too close.

A kid had just passed away.

The blond-haired teen finished making his snack, moving to sit at his kitchen table and contemplate. The kid he lost had been involved in a house fire not too long ago. His parents had come out fine with only minor injuries, but the boy had been trapped under debris for nearly an hour. When first responders finally managed to get to him, he'd undergone third-degree burns over nearly forty percent of his body. The kid - he just turned thirteen… not that much older than Naruto, actually - was sent to a burn center where he was treated for a few days before being transferred to the ICU for more intensive care.

"Hello, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He remembered saying when walking into his patient's room, unable to tell if the boy was looking at him as almost all of his face was covered in bandages. "And you must be Yuri…" The genin paused at the last name on his patient's chart, "Nara…"

Yuri Nara…

Naruto had never heard Shikamaru mention a Yuri from his clan, so there was no telling if this kid had meant anything to his best friends. He was plagued with thoughts, "What if they were cousins? Or childhood friends that had lost touch as they got older…?" If he wasn't bound by HIPPA laws, he probably would have asked the Nara heir about Yuri. HIPPA laws, otherwise known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, protect a patient's sensitive health information from being disclosed to anyone without the patient's consent or knowledge, meaning that Naruto can't even say the boy's name. Was Shikamaru grieving?

"Time of death 20:03…"

Naruto bit the inside of his cheek; those words were the only thing the blond-haired teen could hear as they pulled the boy's blanket over his face, blue eyes watching solemnly as they dragged his gurney away. He can still painstakingly hear the scream Yuri's parents made when they saw him pulled out of his hospital room, passing the couple by. It made his chest clench and tears rise in his eyes.

The medic-in-training scowled deeply, nearly shoving his unfinished snack off his table, unable to eat anymore. He didn't bother with putting his dishes away, unable to push Yuri Nara out of his head. Naruto stood up hastily, reaching for the comfort of his bed to wash away the memories of a boy begging to stay awake for a few more moments. "My mommy's gonna be here soon, please, I just wanna see her…"

It was his desperate cries that had Naruto pulling his pillow over his ears as if it would block out the boy's loud sobs still ringing in his head. He shoved the blankets up under his chin, snuggling deep within them, hoping to forget it all. "It's not fair…" The genin's mind hissed out almost immediately upon shutting his eyes. There were days where him becoming a medic was the only thing on his mind while other nights had him regretting his decision especially when he would start to lose too many of his patients.

"It's not fair." His mind repeated once more, sighing deeply.

His eyes peeled open, staring with disdain at the alarm clock on his bedside table - 12:43 am. Naruto groaned lowly, unable to shut his mind off long enough to fall asleep. He almost regrets working as late as he did at the hospital. Between getting home as late as he did and his midnight snack, the night had gone by so already. The now-genin needed to sleep, at least for a little while.

He was supposed to head over to Choji's house to meet up with him and Shikamaru. Choji's mom had asked for the group to stop by so that she could gift them all with her handmade gifts as well as a goodie basket of foods she'd been preparing for the three. After that, they were going to the Nara residence to play some games and hang out in the woods like they used to do growing up, similar to a throwback before their lives were about to change forever.

"We're genin now." Naruto smiled slightly before shutting his eyes, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he'd passed. He snuggled deeper into his comforter, the sheets nearly pulled over his head while his knees were pulled up close to his chess as the teen started to grow tired. Even though it's been nearly four years since that fateful day in class when Iruka had told his class about medical ninjutsu spurring on Naruto's lifelong interests, it doesn't feel like much time had passed at all. It's like the genin blinked and suddenly he was graduating, awaiting news of what team he'll be put on. It all feels like a dream.

Creak…

The air stilled once that noise penetrated the small apartment, the world stopping, suddenly becoming cold and void of all warmth Naruto had found in the solace of his blankets. His stomach clenched anxiously, moving to sit up in his bed. Naruto barely got his head off his pillow before his window exploded, shattering to pieces, glass flying all over his apartment and onto his bed that had been positioned directly under the destroyed window. Naruto clamored out of his bed quickly, trying to escape the hole in his wall and the glass around him.

His feet hit the wood floors of his apartment, a horrible crunch sounding underneath his bare feet. "Shit!" Naruto knew he'd made a mistake, feeling the glass on the floor painfully stabbing and poking holes into the bottom of his feet. The same creak noise came from outside on his balcony, directing his strained attention back to the hole where his window used to be. Naruto watched in horror as a body shot through his window, flying over his glass-ridden bed before landing in front of the blond-haired teenager. The clouds parted long enough for the full moon's light to shine through his broken window. Standing in front of him was-

"Mizuki-sensei?!" He called out, taking a step back, "W-What are you-"

A metallic sound filled his ears, his heightened hearing allowing him a chance to flank left quickly as a kunai whizzed past him. He must've moved too fast for his sleep-deprived brain to realize he was falling. Naruto couldn't catch himself in time, his hands planting themselves into his bed, glass stabbing into his palms. The genin shot up, tripping away from the pain only to find more glass hiding inside the soles of his feet, pain shooting up in waves as the glass scraped along his hardwood floors. The blond-haired teenager took a second to look at the kunai in the wall before having to duck as Mizuki came at him with another, aiming right at his throat.

"Mizuki-sensei! Why are you doing this?!" He panted out, voice just short of a scream. He backed away from the chunin, searching the darkness behind him for his front door as a means of escape, "Why did you a-attack me?!"

"You! You ruined everything!" The pale man hissed out, twirling the kunai in his hands rhythmically, "You just had to excel, didn't you? You couldn't have played dead last to make things easier on me, could you?!"

Naruto was so caught up in the man's words that he didn't realize how close he'd gotten until a shoe connected with his rib cage. His back slammed into the wall behind him, the crack of his ribs resounding in the room as he coughed up blood. "W-What are you talking about?!" He hissed out, holding his side with a shaky hand, "I didn't do anything to you!" He was close to screaming, but the loudness only hurt his chest more.

"Is he trying to kill me?" The blond looked up, the moonlight illuminating Mizuki's menacing aura. Pained blue eyes widened when Naruto finally saw it. "W-Why do you have the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing?" The genin remembered Hiruzen mentioning this scroll when he was very young and how important it was in aiding in the village peace. "How did you get that?!" He stood back up, hand reaching behind him, grasping the doorknob.

Mizuki sneered openly, his eyes almost glowing in his rage, "You ask too many questions for someone who's going to end up being a smear on the floor." He stalked forward, hand reaching out with blinding speed, grasping at the boy's throat. He lifted him off the floor, Naruto kicking desperately as his airway was starting to get cut off. "Though, I guess it would be a courtesy to explain a few things before I kill you."

"L-Let… me… go!"

He smiled sinisterly, "It's no secret that I've hated you since the beginning. After all, you are a demon and who wouldn't hate a demon that destroyed your village? It's despicable that they let a demon like you roam our streets like you didn't cause thousands of deaths all over Konoha!"

Naruto was having a hard time processing what the man was saying between the pain in his hands and feet and the lack of oxygen he was getting to his brain. "I… I-" He gasped for breath, "I… d-didn't do… any… a-anything…" He scratched up and down the man's bare arms, his fingernails chipping and bleeding in his desperation. The genin's eyes were fluttering open and close, "Move! Move or you're gonna die!"

"You have got to be shitting me!" Mizuki laughed, moving to squeeze with both of his hands, eyes wild with excitement, "You are the reincarnation of the Kyuubi no Kitsune! You killed my friends, my family! What if I killed your family?! Oh, wait, you don't have any!" He laughed maniacally, loud and boisterous, eyes bulging and gleeful.

My family… Kushina Uzumaki… Minato Namikaze…

Naruto snarled loudly, hands glowing a frightening blue as he activated his chakra scalpel, slicing into Mizuki's arms with a ferocity, desperate to get away from the man. He howled in pain, dropping the teen who reached for the door behind him, escaping out into the hall of his apartment building. Naruto tried to catch his breath, a shaky hand pressing into the side of his chest where his ribs were still stinging with pain. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts." His mind chanted as he hobbled down the hallway, unable to call out for help with the pain in his throat.

"GET BACK HERE!" Mizuki roared, storming out of his apartment and chasing after him like an angered bull.

"I need to getaway! I can't- I can't get away!" The thought was frightening, the blond-haired boy turning to look behind him as the chunin barreled after him. He looked forward once more, seeing a window at the end of the hallway. "I am so tired of glass." Naruto thought, sprinting towards the window before jumping and curling into a ball, smashing through the window. He shrieked as he fell into a bush two stories down. He didn't have the time to recover before Mizuki was jumping out as well. However, with the experience Naruto lacked, the man was able to successfully catch himself without getting hurt.

"You're making this a lot harder for me, demon!" The traitor hissed, nose flared and eyes filled with anger.

Naruto stood up on shaky legs - at least he didn't break his legs in that fall - before holding out his glass-ridden hands, "Mizuki… stop this, please, I don't want to fight you…"

Mizuki clicked his tongue, shaking his head slightly as a smirk started upon his lips, "I'm going to kill you, Naruto Uzumaki." He pulled out another kunai, dashing forward faster than the medic-in-training could see. He felt the pain before he saw what happened, Naruto's eyes shakily looking down at where the weapon was embedded deep within his lower abdomen. "I hope this hurts." Mizuki grinned, twisting the kunai, pushing it in deeper.

Naruto screamed, high-pitched and tormented as tears ran down his face, "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

Mizuki slapped a hand over the teen's mouth, trying not to draw attention to his malicious intentions in the middle of the street where anyone could see what he was doing. Naruto's been through this once before, hand flaring blue, lighting up with the chakra scalpel that Yiruma had taught him only a month prior. The genin sliced at the other man, missing his target by a hair, watched with bated breath as the more experienced shinobi hopped a fair distance away.

The blond-haired teenager looked down at the kunai still stuck deep in his abdomen. "You're not really supposed to pull out anything that impales you since you'll just bleed out faster… but I need to heal this as soon as possible." He thought quickly, making a decision to heal himself while running away; he needed to get away from Mizuki.

Naruto rushed into an alleyway as the traitor readied up a few shurikens, throwing them into the spot the blond was at earlier. The genin knew these streets like the back of his hand, every road and hiding spot, every shortcut, and every shop. He pulled the kunai out with an unintentional scream - it hurt more than he realized it would have. The wound spits up blood, the crimson liquid spilling down his abdomen and ruining his favorite orange t-shirt. The blond placed his palm almost directly on the stab wound, green healing chakra pumping into every crevice Mizuki's kunai had invaded. The pain was astronomical, something he'd never felt before.

"I need some serious help…"

The blond-haired genin searched the area, realizing he's still in a very residential area with Mizuki hot on his tails. The walls have always been thin, anyone could hear him if he screamed. Naruto opened his mouth, a wail leaving his throat for only a second before a hand circled around his head, covering his mouth and nose as he was dragged, kicking and screaming, into an alleyway.

"I'm going to kill you, Naruto Uzumaki." The man's words were echoing in his head as Mizuki chuckled behind him, a kunai shining in the light of the moon. It was aimed at his heart but Naruto wasn't going to go down without a fight. Just as Mizuki hoisted it forward, the boy's hands caught the handle, both of his palms encircling his teacher's hand, holding it in place with aching strength.

"I don't want to die!" Naruto screamed hopelessly, watching the kunai inch closer and closer to his heart as the chunin was much stronger than he was. One of his hands slipped down the sharp edge, slicing down his wrist as the kunai pierced his hand all the way through, effectively but painfully stopping Mizuki from killing him again. The older man tried to press the weapon closer but the bones and flesh in the boy's hands prevented the kunai from moving.

"Goddammit!" Mizuki shouted out, throwing the teenager back into the streets, stalking up to the boy's quivering form. He lifted a foot, kicking Naruto's abdomen repeatedly in his frustration and anger. The blond's ribs protested, an agonizing scream leaving his mouth, blood spurting from his mouth and nose. "Why can't you just lie down and die?! You've always been a pain in my ass, you demon!" Naruto rolled onto his back, intent on trying to get away but Mizuki wasn't done. His foot came down once more, stomping directly on his sternum.

There was a terrible crack that filled the street. A second passed before Naruto screamed in pure agony, coughing up blood as building pressure and surging pain pierced his chest. He needs to heal himself, needs just a minute to check to see if the bones surrounding his lungs and heart have stabbed anything important. If he doesn't check now, he's going to die. Mizuki raised his foot for another blow before lights all around the residential area started to turn on, silhouettes of people standing by their window, about to pull their curtains back to see what all the racket was.

Mizuki paused in his mutilation, realizing that he'd probably made too much noise, "Shit." He spits at Naruto, mumbling under his breath before jumping to the rooftops, running away quickly.

Naruto lifted his head, two shaky hands moving all over his chest to heal the newest damage that the traitor had done to him. "He still has the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing…" He found himself thinking as he finally found all the internal damage deep within him, "If Mizuki leaves the village with that, Konoha would be vulnerable to attacks." His face was damp with blood and tears, his body in unimaginable pain. The boy's hands and feet were cut up and filled with glass, burning with the blood that leaked from it. Still, he found himself standing up on shaky knees just as people were starting to exit their homes. "I can't let him get away…"

Naruto took off, pushing the pain to the back of his head as adrenaline raced through him. He needs to get the scroll away from Mizuki and get it back to the Third Hokage as soon as possible. Although the other man was traveling over rooftops and across buildings, it's not nearly as fast as knowing the shortcuts throughout the village because, just in front of him, the genin could see Mizuki's back where the scroll lay.

"Faster, I need to move faster!" His mind shouted out, pumping adrenaline into his tired, aching legs, "Go, faster!"

Mizuki dropped from the rooftops, just on the edge of the forest. From the shadows, Naruto jumped into the air - as high as he could go - shouting loudly as he landed on the other man's back, clinging onto the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing as if his life depended on it. "You little bitch!" Mizuki hissed out, reaching behind him to get the boy off him. However, the scroll was too clunky to effectively get his arms behind him so, instead of wasting more of his energy on that tactic, the chunin turned around, slamming his back repeatedly into a tree. Naruto's eyes widened in shock, blood spilling from his mouth like a fountain.

"Get off of me!" The older man huffed in annoyance, continuing the movements but Naruto wrapped his arms and legs around Mizuki even tighter. The chunin struggled to throw him off for a few minutes until he'd managed to push a broken branch into Naruto's lower back, the sharp edge piercing his back for a moment before Mizuki finally managed to throw him off. "You're such a pain in my ass!" The man wiped the sweat off his brow before his eyes widened.

Naruto sat on the ground, panting loudly as he tried to regain his breath. Clutched tightly in his arms was the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing; his arms barely wrapped around the large thing, but he did it, he got the scroll back. The blond-haired teen scrambled away, doing his best to ignore the nagging pain resounding all over his body, starting to run out of the woods and back into the village - he needed to get the scroll to safety. In his rage over losing the scroll, Mizuki stumbled, slipping on the bloody earth underneath his shoes.

As the lights of the village came back into view and his body started to trip and stumble in his exhaustion, Naruto knows he doesn't have much time left. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!" He cried, pained tears filling his battered and bruised face, "HELP ME!" More lights in the residential district were turning on. He can do this. "HELP M-" The genin barely had one foot out of the forest before there was a hand on the back of his neck, throwing him backward.

Naruto locked eyes with Mizuki for just a split second before falling down a steep hill. His face connected with a sharp rock, breaking his nose and jaw if the sound of a crack resounding in his head was anything to go by. He's tossed down the hill at break-neck speeds, his body building up a dangerous momentum as the genin hits every rock and tree on his way down. His ribs snapped when he collided with a tree that had fallen down, his bare arms and legs being cut up all the way down the hill. The stab wound in his lower abdomen reopened, gushing with blood, the searing pain blinding the boy for a moment.

Even through all the pain, and the worries that this will be his final moments, Naruto does not let go of that scroll. Any damage done to him can be healed, but not the knowledge and secrets that this scroll holds. If he dies tonight, then he'll have done it for the village he loves and for the people he cares about.

Shikamaru flashes through his mind as a particularly sharp rock smacks the back of his head, an unsettling blackness seeping into his vision. "I don't want to die." Naruto sobbed out loud as he continued falling down the hill, "I want to be a genin. I want to play shogi with Shikamaru and eat barbeque chips with Choji. I want to keep working at the hospital. I want to be a good medic for everyone. Please, I don't want to die."

After a few more seconds, Naruto finally rolls to a stop at the bottom of the hill, desperate to keep the unconsciousness at bay. He struggles to get up this time, the fountain of blood leaving his mouth is a clear sign of how much damage Mizuki has inflicted on him. "Do I even have the energy to heal myself?" The blond-haired genin thought hopelessly, looking over his shoulder at the hill he'd just been thrown down.

Descending down the terrain that had nearly killed Naruto, shrouded in darkness but whose back was lit up by moonlight was Mizuki. He sauntered up to the teen in a slow, demeaning manner with a kunai twirling around his index fingers. Despite the lateness of the night and the darkness creeping into Naruto's vision, he could still clearly see the evil look in his teacher's eyes.

"I told you I would kill you, didn't I?" Mizuki shook his head, clicking his tongue in disgust, "I will give you the most painful death I can imagine. I'll cut you up until you scream yourself raw before cutting out your vocal cords. I'll cut into the glass in your feet before cutting them off at the ankle so you can't run from me anymore. And when you're finally begging me to kill you, only then will I leave you in a puddle of your own blood, left to be a late-night snack for the animals of the forest."

The blond-haired genin shook his head, lip quivering as a deep-seated fear filled him. He tried to crawl away, no longer having the strength in his knees. "I didn't even do anything to you." He sobbed out loud, his bleeding hands clawing at the dirt underneath him.

"Are you going to keep denying it until you die?" Mizuki huffed out a laugh, "Honestly, you should be thanking me for ending your life. You seemed miserable, you know when everyone hated you. Though, for a demon such as yourself, it was warranted. But our Hokage just had to tell everyone your status and then, like fucking magic, everyone was just fine with walking around with a fucking demon! But not me!"

"I'm not… a demon…" His head was getting foggy, healing chakra flowing desperately through his body; he's probably concussed right now, maybe that's why he can't think straight.

The pale man reached forward, flipping Naruto over so he could look the man in his wild eyes, "Do you know how painful it was to go to a place you once loved being, teaching what you love and always being in the presence of a demon?! You ruined everything and I'm going to kill you for it!"

Naruto didn't even see the kunai, but what energy would he even have to stop it at this point? "I'm going to die…"

From the brush came a dozen shurikens, intent on killing Mizuki. The blond-haired genin watched as the traitor rolled away quickly before any of the shurikens could hit him. He sneered in the direction of the treetops, watching as something dropped down directly in front of Naruto. His breath hitched.

"I-Iruka!" Naruto sobbed out loud, voice scratchy and chest clenching painfully.

The brown-haired man chanced a look over his shoulder, his expression darkening with an unexplained emotion at seeing the state the boy was in. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, Naruto, but I'm here now." He smiled reassuringly, but the blond knew his teacher was taking in the blood and cuts littering his body. "It'll be okay, I'm here for you. I'll protect you, honey." Iruka turned away from the boy he considers a son, "After all, you're my found family and family helps each other no matter what."

The boy's eyes watered, "Thank you…" He whimpered weakly as he sat up, feeling a little lightheaded. He began to heal himself, watching as Iruka pulled out a few more shuriken, lowering his body, ready for an attack from the traitor.

"Naruto, I'm sure already know this, but that scroll contains everything our enemies would need to destroy Konoha." Iruka huffed out, "I want you to heal yourself as much as you can and then run, as fast as you can with the scroll. And whatever you do, do not let Mizuki get the scroll, okay?"

"O-Okay…" He eyed the healing chakra pouring from his broken, glass-ridden palms into his chest where most of the injuries lay. What used to be a comforting glow of green is now just a reminder of the pain Mizuki inflicted on him, his healing chakra having to reverse the torment as best as it can.

"How... charming, Iruka." Mizuki sneered, making a gagging noise, "You know, out of everyone in the village, I would think you'd agree with me about getting rid of it." He crossed his arms. "After all, he killed your parents."

Naruto peeked up at his teacher, seeing the tense lines of the man's shoulders and the way they hiked up to his ears. He already knew of Iruka's parents, having been told what happened to them the same day Naruto learned of his own heritage and the curse he held within. "Iruka-sensei…?"

"He didn't kill my parents, Mizuki, the Kyuubi did." The brown-haired man corrected, uninterested in what the other man was doing, "I hold no hatred against a kid who did nothing wrong."

Mizuki growled lowly, baring his teeth and stomping like a child, "You're all the same! You don't see the evil in that demon!"

"The only evil I see is you." Iruka took a step forward, "You will not leave this forest alive, Mizuki. I promise you that even if I have to kill you myself." He sped forward, jumping in the air and launching the shuriken in his hands, glancing over his shoulder. "Naruto! RUN!" The older man shouted.

Naruto's eyes were wide as he scrambled away from the battle, most of his severe injuries having been somewhat healed in the few minutes he was given to rest and recover. He sped off down the plaintiff, careful of everything around him. "I'll kill him!" The blond heard Mizuki's voice behind him, turning to see if the man was actually following him again. The world was dark, though, underneath all the foliage in the forest. He can't see anything at all, not even the tree he'd run right into. He fell onto his back, disoriented and nearing unconsciousness.

"I probably have enough head injuries to last a lifetime…" His mind prodded without cause, Naruto's head lulling from side to side. The scroll slips from his hand as the darkness returns in his eyes. "I feel like I'm going to puke…" He thought to himself, knowing for sure he has a severe concussion from the multitude of hits he took.

Naruto rolls onto his side, crawling over to where the scroll had escaped him, the paper unrolled and open for all to see. He swiped his eyes of the blood leaking from the cuts in his forehead; his head is spinning and he's close to throwing up, stomach-churning impossibly. The blond-haired genin pulls himself up over the opened scroll, eyes blankly staring at it in his concussed state. The words were shouting at him, popping out of the page, and, in a way, he could read the strange words. "W-What's a… Multi-Shadow… Clone jutsu?" In his disorientation, his eyes continued across the scroll, reading but not recognizing what it's saying.

He blinked back the fog in his head, breathing deeply to collect himself. "What am I doing…?" Naruto pressed a shaky hand to his head, trying to ward away the migraine that was stabbing at his eyes. He rolled the scroll back up, trying to forget the forbidden jutsu he'd just read by accident. The blond-haired teen stood up, lacking the same adrenaline as before, shakingly wandering through the forest.

He swayed from side to side, the blood loss and his concussions making it harder and harder to stay awake. "For Iruka…" He reminded himself, "I got to keep the scroll safe, for Iruka…" Naruto squeezed his eyes shut when a sharp pain attacked him, his migraine getting worse the longer he stood upright. "I'm going to throw up…" That is all he managed to say before falling to his knees and vomiting up the late-night snack he'd had earlier. It hurt every injury within his abdomen while the bile rushed out of his throat, his sternum making a creaking noise and his lungs squeezing painfully every time he vomited. Tears trailed out of his eyes and down his nose, dripping into the mess he'd made on the forest floor.

After a few moments, the genin finally has enough energy to pull himself up with the help of a tree. Everything hurts and he's so, so tired. He needs to keep going, keep moving, get help, help Iruka… Help, help, help…

There's that whizzing sound again, filtering through his ears like a bad song. There's something heavy and metallic in the air, moving too fast for Naruto to dodge. He leans against the tree, sliding slightly as his energy is slowly depleted. He can't move anymore, it hurts too much. He's going to die here… At least he got the scroll almost to the village, Iruka can finish it from here… he's done for. Naruto closes his eyes, falling to his knees.

There's a slicing sound above him as the blond finally hits the ground.

Naruto rolls over, anticipating a kunai or a shuriken deep within his back - he can't even feel anything anymore, it would be nothing for one more weapon to be sticking out of him. But when he finally turned enough and realized that there was a shadow above him, the world seemed to stop. "I-Iruka…?" His eyes widened and watered almost instantly, taking in the man and the large shuriken sticking out of his back, the tip of one of the shuriken's spikes sticking out of his teacher's abdomen, illuminated by the moon. Iruka's arms were shaking violently, desperate to keep himself up, caging his son underneath him.

Naruto chokes on his sobs, reaching up with his hands glowing green with the little energy he has left, intent on healing his father figure. "N-No… Iruka…"

The man coughs up blood, a shaky, dying breath on his lips. Iruka sits heavily on his knees, a shaky smile on his face as he gently grabs both of the boy's hands, preventing him from healing him. "It's okay, b-baby… I told you I w-would… I would p-protect you, didn't… I?" Iruka leaned forward, pressing a bloody kiss to Naruto's forehead, "Y-You need… n-need to go… M-Make sure… Mizuki, he doesn't…"

"I'm not leaving you!" Naruto sobbed, wrapping his bruised arms around the man's neck, "Please, tell me to stay!"

His eyes fluttered, head tilting, "G-Go…"

"Aw! How pitiful!" Mizuki laughed…

He laughed? He was laughing while Iruka was dying?

"Iruka! Weren't you the one who said that I would die here?! That you would kill me? Yet, here you are, Iruka, dying!" The man chuckled at his own comment.

Naruto huffed out each breath as if it was a knife stabbing his lungs. He could hear the injured man's wheezing breaths, watching Iruka's dark eyes shut, a pained expression on his face. Mizuki laughed… He laughed, he laughed, he laughed! A wave of deep-seated anger filled him like nothing before. "I don't want to lose anyone else. I can't lose Iruka…" Naruto growled lowly, tears streaming down his face.

Iruka lifted his head, his eyes still closed, "N-Naruto…" The blond looked down, pulling away from the desperate hug he'd given the man. "I… You w-were the great… g-greatest student I… e-ever had… You a-are everything… to me a-and I… Y-you're the son… s-son I never had… Be strong, b-baby…"

And then he went limp.

"I-Iruka…" Naruto laid him on his side, shaking his shoulder slowly, "Iruka…" He was gone.

In books, the main character always describes the way the world stops when they lose a loved one, about how their brain can't process how someone they love so much could be… gone. But this isn't some book where you can just shut the page and forget about the characters who'd passed away, this was his life. And Naruto is a medic. He's lost people, over and over and over again… but not Iruka. He can't lose Iruka. He can't… no, no!

Naruto screamed loudly, the world-shaking in his aggression. He screamed so hard, his mouth gushed with blood, whether it be from prior injuries or the stress his throat had been through, he couldn't tell you. The genin punched the earth so hard it left a sizable dip - no, no, no! There's something dark building within him, feeding off the anger and agony pooling in his chest and filling his wounds. It hurt so bad, feeling the way his anger spread through every fiber of his being, but the heat that poured into his veins, lighting his insides on fire was almost comforting. He wants Mizuki to pay for taking Iruka from him.

Naruto wants revenge.

"So, do it."

Naruto turned his head towards the man, watching with a pleasing growl at the way Mizuki startled to life, all color draining from his face. The way he's looking at Naruto is… different. What used to be disdain and obvious hatred, a fire in his eyes that called for the boy's death, was suddenly replaced by a deep-seated fear; he was shaking in his boots. Naruto doesn't care anymore, though, his own anger and hatred have taken over him, rushing after the traitor who took Iruka from him on all fours.

There are claws protruding from his hands when he jumps up, scratching Mizuki's across the chest, deep enough to see the man's small intestines spill from his lower abdomen. Naruto smiles almost drunkenly, his mind fogging up as if he was drunk on rage. He doesn't realize he has elongated teeth until he bites into the throat and face of the man who took someone he loved more than anything. And that red chakra bubbling around him searing Mizuki's skin was a cherry on top of this fucked up sundae.

It's over in twenty seconds; Mizuki is nothing but a pile of blood and flesh, his face unrecognizable and his guts bared for all to see. The fogs and Naruto gagged at the smell, a sense of guilt filling him but he only allows himself a moment to feel this way before rushing back to Iruka. With Mizuki dead, the large shuriken sticking out of his teacher's back was unsummoned, leaving a large entrance and exit wound in his chest. Naruto falls to his knees right beside the brown-haired academy teacher, hands shakily moving him onto his back and positioning over him.

He settled both of his palms on the man's chest, his hands still glowing with a red hue of a chakra he's never felt before. "Please…" The blond-haired genin started compressions immediately, pushing all of his chakra into the unmoving body underneath him. Naruto watched in desperation as both the red chakra surrounding him as well as his own healing chakra started moving through Iruka's chest. Cuts and bruises healed almost immediately when the red chakra touched it, covering the broken tissues in the protectiveness of his healing chakra afterward.

"Please…" He begged, his compressions getting a bit sloppy in his exhaustion. There was rustling above him but he had to save Iruka, he couldn't leave him, couldn't spare a moment. Naruto didn't even look over at those who'd dropped behind him, aware of the sound of their shoes hitting the ground but not who they were.

"Naruto Uzumaki, do you have the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing?" A deep, muffled voice asked him. An ANBU agent then, he deduced.

"Iruka died and you're asking me about a dumb scroll?!" He hissed out, the red chakra leaving him, pushing almost the entirety of it in to his teacher to bring him back.

There was a movement in the corner of his eye, "Naruto, where is the scroll?"

"Shut up and let me concentrate, please!" He cried out, frantic when Iruka was still not responsive, "I need him to come back!" The area fell silent as he continued with CPR, over and over...

"It's been seven minutes… he's not coming back, Naruto." That voice.

His eyes watered, voice wavering when he realized who it was standing behind him, "You're not a doctor, Hiruzen."

"But I'm old enough to know when CPR is not enough." The Third Hokage sighed.

Naruto's entire arms glowed with swirls of red and green, pushing himself to his limits, pouring every bit of himself into bringing Iruka back, "Fuck you, Hiruzen. I'm bringing him back even if it kills me."

"Naruto-"

There was a trail of blood escaping his left nostril. Maybe those head injuries did too much damage or maybe he's finally running out of chakra. Naruto sobbed, gritting his teeth, and pushed as hard as he could, hard enough to break his teacher's sternum. Down, down, down-

There was a loud, wet hack that sounded through the forest. Naruto stared in shock as Iruka's eyes fluttered open for a second before shutting again in pain, a soft smile on his face. He stopped with the compressions but kept his healing chakra going, all of that mysterious red chakra dissipating almost as soon as he'd brought his teacher back from the dead, his exhaustion running thick through his veins. Naruto grinned, laughing slightly before dissolving into tears, "I-Iruka…"

The man's hands lifted up, both of his palms resting on Naruto's face, pulling him close enough to touch foreheads. "It's… o-okay…" Neither the ANBU's nor Hiruzen said a word during the interaction.

"UZUMAKI-YA!" A shout sounded off, Yiruma dropping from the treetops with a crew of his fellow medics.

"Dr. Hana…" The blond-haired teen sniffled, still healing Iruka who had fallen unconscious again.

Yiruma placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it tightly, "You did such a good job, kid. We can take it from here." To prove his point, the older man rested his other hand over Iruka's chest, letting his own healing chakra flow out.

"T-Thank you…" Naruto smiled before his eyes rolled to the back of his head, slipping into the darkness that has threatened to consume him for the past hour. He did it. Konohagakure was going to be okay. Mizuki was taken care of and Iruka is going to live.

"You're going to be the death of me, medic."

A/N - Well, how was it? Did anyone expect the Mizuki incident to turn out like this? Hopefully not because I haven't exactly seen a lot of AU writers make Mizuki into this psychotic maniac intent on murdering Naruto. Granted, I don't read many Naruto fanfictions anymore - my bad - so maybe there are a few who do the Mizuki incident like this! If you were in the server when I was writing this, you'll know that I was literally sobbing for like 30 minutes over this chapter so I hope it made you all cry as well! Until next time!