It took three people to keep Naruto out of the operation room: Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura. Tsunade had made it absolutely clear that no one could enter. The details they had gotten so far, thanks to Kakashi's hearing, meant that they couldn't trust anyone. If the goal was to kill her then they couldn't find out that she'd lived. Tsunade needed Naruto under control because the more of a scene he made the more attention he would attract. The ANBU weren't stupid. They would know that if Naruto were having this much of a break down that Ran was still alive, barely, but alive. Naruto screamed shoving Sasuke off himself hard enough to smack him into a wall. Sakura grabbed his arm getting in his way.

"Naruto!" She snapped meeting his eyes. "You can't go in there right now! If Tsunade can't concentrate…"

"She'll die Naruto." Kakashi finished wrapping his arms behind the boy locking them immobilizing his arms. Naruto seemed to crumble. Sasuke watched rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the wall and he felt horrible. Naruto sank to his knees Kakashi falling with him hanging his head. There were tears forming along the edges of his eyes.

"She's doing everything she can. I swear." Sakura frowned trying not to cry to.

"What happened?" his voice was small and sterile. He was trying to keep as much emotion out of it as possible. It wasn't like him. It scared them all.

"We'll talk later. Right now, we need you to calm down." Kakashi started to release the grip hold on his arms.

Tsunade rubbed her forehead agitated and looked around the room at the other nurses. This was a serious case and she was having trouble. Ran was breathing, her heart was partially patched back, but it would take hours of work. They would have to stop her heart, stitch it back, and then restart it. Her concern was in the fact that before they'd put her under to open her chest they hadn't been able to get any responses out of her. She'd lost consciousness and her mind had stopped sending signals outside. They'd watched as the charka flow had circled there and had minimal flow. Even if they got her heart restarted…they might have already lost her. The chances of bringing her back were slim and it looked like she was in a coma. The attack had been swift but brutal. It was traumatic and Tsunade wasn't sure that she'd healed from the last time a sword had torn through her like that. Partial damage had looked like it had been reopened and that Ran had been lying to Tsunade about some of her recovery.

Sasuke burst through the doors dragging the ANBU Kakashi had described to him from earlier. He threw the man on the table and held him by the throat before training his Sharingan eye to eye with the man. Kakashi flinched raising an eyebrow but moved closer letting go of a breath. Sasuke's hand started to glow with the unearthly blue light as he placed it near the man's chest. The guy struggled kicking and twisting until Sakura hit a major nerve point in his neck. He went limp but was still perfectly awake. When Sasuke spoke his voice was deadly.

"You have hurt someone very close to me. You're going to talk or so help you I will splatter your guts all over this table, while you're alive." His girlfriend made a face sort of disturbed by just how angry he really was.

"You have very little time to respond." Kakashi clarified as Sakura moved to touch his throat so that his vocal chords would work.

"Why did you go after her?" Kakashi asked narrowing his eyes.

"It was an order." The man spat back angrily.

"From who?"

"I don't know." Sasuke let the lightening sear his skin a little peeling back the fabric of his shirt.

"From who?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" he screamed his eyes wide.

"He's telling the truth. His charka's normal." Sakura said worried.

"How do you not know?"

"Easy, they come from higher ups. This goes higher than him." Kakashi sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "Do what you want with him Sasuke. He's a coward who tried to kill someone without any proof of their innocence or guilt."

"So he's scum?" Sasuke smirked eyeing his teacher.

"Exactly."

By the time the moon hung high in the night air Naruto sat beside Ran's bed holding her hand. The others had filtered in when he'd calmed down but everything was still so bleak. Tsunade had given him a very long talk before bringing him in here. Ran was in bad shape. There hadn't been any brain activity after they'd restarted her heart. She told him that it wasn't uncommon for the first few days that the brain activity would be slow to less than average until the patient was calmed down. She also told him that Ran's brain activity was only concentrated in the center that controlled dreaming which was most prominently active in patients with comas. The problem with that was that once the patient was submerged…they rarely came back out. He glanced over her body as it laid there unmoving. She was pale. His heart ached.

Ran stood watching was Ibiki made the case with the other ANBU on whether or not she'd passed. She was sure that after almost crushing a man to death that she'd be taken into custody. She closed her eyes ticking off the seconds as they passed. She was so upset. She'd lost control and almost killed someone. It had only been seconds before she had been brought back from the edge and sucked the shield back into her chakra. The man had minor injuries but still, she'd injured a comrade. A man in a bird mask turned to face her and gestured angrily. She couldn't hear what they were saying because a sealer had blocked them inside a box formed by chakra. She sucked in a breath and took a step back panicking. They didn't know what had happened when she was a child. They didn't understand that she knew what it was like to be kept inside a prison. She would not go back to that. Her blood started to pump faster and she glanced around the halls wondering if she'd make it by running. The walls to the seal came down and Ibiki turned to face her. He smiled and tiredly put a hand on his hip.

"Welcome into the ANBU Core kiddo. We'll saddle you up with a team starting tomorrow." He grabbed her shoulder shaking it gently. Slowly Ran realized that she wasn't being arrested or forced into a small cell…they were…welcoming her. There was a slow smile forming on her face as a gentle laugh filtered out.

"I'm in?" she asked her hands still shaking.

"You're in kid. Go on. Enjoy the night. See you tomorrow at dawn." He'd smirked watching the child practically run away. He'd known that she hadn't made friends easily but he hoped that would change here with these guys. He hoped that they'd become her friends.

Ran sat on the edge of the fence around her complex staring up at the moon with an infectious grin still plastered there. She'd made ANBU. Things were going to change from here. She'd be the hardest most tough kantana wielder this village had ever seen.

"Heard you made it?" Genma called walking below the fence smirking up at her. He flicked the toothpick with his tongue. Although she didn't know him that well, he was really nice since they lived near each other.

"Yeah. I did." She fought the urge to laugh again. He stopped putting his hands in his pockets.

"You're how old again?" he asked.

"Fourteen, why?" He seemed to think it over a long minute.

"Eh, what the hell. It's about a four year difference. Hop down her kid. You're coming with me and the group tonight to celebrate." She blinked surprised. Was he inviting her out?

"I uh…"

"Shut up and get down here." He said laughing. "You've got to celebrate this."