Sasuke was poked awake roughly. He was about to kill whoever decided to disturb him when he noticed it was Tsunade. Hokage or not, Sasuke was about to have a go at her, but what she said seemed more important. "Kakashi is back, Sasuke." She said quietly. Sasuke jumped out of the uncomfortable chair he had been sleeping in and looked at the hokage. "Please tell me, he has to-" Tsunade gave him a comforting look.

"He has kabuto with him, don't worry. Were handing him over to the interrogation squad right now." Sasuke nodded and looked back at Naruto.

"Kabuto better talk, and fast. I don't want him going through any more pain." Sasuke said quietly.

"He passed out again?" The raven nodded grimly.

"Yeah…" He murmered. "Just out of interest, where are you holding Kabuto?" Sasuke asked. "He's- nice try Sasuke. I'm not letting you anywhere near him. Once we get the information we need from him I am going to ask the council for advice on how do deal with him." She said. Sasuke cracked his knuckles threateningly.

"Its alright. I'll deal with him." he hissed. "I'll make him wish he was never born!" the hokage sighed; she would like to give kabuto the same treatment Sasuke was thinking of. "He will probably get a life sentence in our high-security prison." Sasuke sat back on the chair and watched as Naruto whimpered pitifully in his sleep.

"You think that's enough for what he's put Naruto through?" he said.

"We should just concentrate on helping Naruto by getting the information from kabuto by any means necessary, not threatening what we are going to do to him after we get the information." She said. "I'm going to go down and see how things are going. I'll update you as soon as we get anything from kabuto." Sasuke nodded and went back to Naruto. He couldn't wait to tell Naruto that Kakashi was back, but it was better if he slept because he didn't seem to be in too much pain when he did.

The anbu team were having no luck with getting kabuto to talk. He still seemed to be staying loyal to Orochimaru, even when the snake was dead. The hokage was angry about the lack of progress and was now interrogating kabuto herself. They knew he was no pushover, so they made sure he couldn't use his chakra and he was tied up at all times. "Kabuto. I suggest you tell me exactly what you used on Naruto and where the antidote is, and if there isn't one, how to make one." She said. A minute of silence passed and the hokage crossed her arms angrily. "Well?" she snarled. The medic-nin stayed completely silent. "Hokage-sama, he hasn't said a word since Kakashi brought him here." One of the anbu informed her. "W-were running out of ideas on how to get him to talk." He added reluctantly.

She threw kabuto a dirty look.

"Give me five minutes." They nodded and left her alone in the room with kabuto.

"Now you can talk, or… I can bring down a certain person who really wants to see you." Kabuto looked up in mild interest. "Yes, Sasuke has become very protective over Naruto and what was it he said again?" she paused and put her finger to her lips in mock thought. "Ah yes, he said he would make you 'wish you were never born.' I should point out that Sasuke doesn't make idle threats." Kabuto simply looked up at her and smirked. "I know what your thinking. It would be against our laws to let Sasuke kill you, right?" kabuto's smirk simply widened. "I am the hokage and I wouldn't punish Sasuke too harshly if he somehow learnt of where we were keeping you and he just happened to get past security." The hokage didn't get the desired effect from kabuto as he simply laughed. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "What so funny?" she hissed. He just ignored her, which only infuriated the sannin more. "What ingredients were in that syringe?" she snarled. Getting no response, she stomped her heel on the floor angrily, creating a large dent in the hard stone.

"You tell me." He said. The hokage frowned; so he was playing mind games now? "What the hell do you mean by that?" kabuto broke out in manic laughter.

"I don't know what was in that syringe. Orochimaru-sama said make something that would kill someone very painfully. Naruto was an experiment, a trial run. I mixed so many things I can't remember any of it!" the hokage paled; she had no idea how she was going to tell this to Sasuke. "You must remember some things. I can start with that and mix the antidote accordingly."

"You have no idea…that serum was a masterpiece. It was complete killing perfection. It took me seven years to perfect it and you really believe you can make an antidote before it completely tortures Naruto-kun to death? Good luck." She turned around and slammed the door behind her. "K-keep him where he is. I'll decide on further action later." She informed. Kakashi appeared at her side as she walked through the corridor.

"Hokage-sama, has he…revealed anything?" he asked carefully. Kakashi could sense she was concealing something and it was revealed when she reached her office and slumped on her desk, tears filling her eyes.

"How many more people do I have to lose? You call me the hokage…yet I can't save Naruto…just like I couldn't save my brother…Nawaki, Dan…and now another. Naruto" she looked up at Kakashi. "The only thing I know is that it is making Naruto's internal organs deteriorate at an alarming rate. So far healing him had been useless as it only aggravates the pain he's going through and as I can't heal him fully so its really pointless. I didn't mention this to Sasuke, but…the last time I looked at Naruto I found that he's beyond healing now." She slumped down in her chair. "How do I tell Sasuke? H-how do I tell Naruto that?" Kakashi frowned.

"If you can made the antidote would the outcome be different?" she poured herself some sake. "That's hopeless. Kabuto simply made something that would kill a person in the most inhumane way. It was a one-off creation and…he can't even remember what he put in that thing. N-Naruto is going to die, Kakashi."

"S-Sasuke." The raven's head shot up.

"Naruto! Listen, Kakashi is back and he has Kabuto. Any moment now Tsunade will be back with the antidote." He informed him excitedly. Despite the pain, Naruto smiled at Sasuke, his eyes filling with hope. 'I told you, kit we- oh god no.'

'W-what?'

'This body isn't going to hold out much longer. Your lucky you can't see inside yourself…its worse than I ever thought.'

'I think I can tell its bad.' Naruto grumbled back. He coughed out violently, blood covering everything. "Naruto?"

'Holy fuck…your coughing up your own insides!'

'Thanks for you comment, Kyuubi.' Naruto lurched again and coughed up what looked like lumpy blood. Kyuubi wasn't kidding.

Sasuke had already called for help. "I'm dying, Sasuke…" he whimpered. Naruto could feel himself slipping away. Ignoring the fact he was covering himself in blood Sasuke grabbed Naruto tightly. "No your not. You can't! I need you Naruto!" a nurse gave out a shriek when she saw Sasuke and Naruto. "H-help him!" he said weakly. They pulled Sasuke from Naruto and put the blonde back on the bed properly, one of them running for the hokage. As more blood trickled from Naruto's mouth he closed his eyes tightly. 'I don't want to die, Kyuubi. I don't want to leave Sasuke.'

'I'm not to thrilled about 'going to a better place' either kit! Just…hold on. There is something I can try when the hokage gets here. Can you hold on for a few minutes?'

'I can try…'