Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, I admit it, so you can't sue me now!! (laughs at evil lawyer guy standing over her shoulder)

--

"Five, six, seven … why haven't you moved yet? This round will end quickly if you don't go anywhere."

Sasuke was sitting on the ground in front of her. There it is – more proof. She fights through sound. She can hear her enemy, locate him, and attack.

"Hello? This is hide-and-seek! You're supposed to hide, while I seek you! Don't you get it?!" Rosuto stood over him and poked him in the forehead to emphasize her last sentence.

He looked up at her. "No matter where I hide, you'll be able to hear me. I can't get far enough away in ten seconds."

"Oh, so you figured me out, huh? Took you long enough. That girl you were with got it a lot faster." She leaned down so that he was at her eye level. "Tell you what, just to be fair, I'll let you have an extra fifteen seconds. Deal?"

She was talking to him as if she were in a position to give him charity, not a foreign ninja trespassing on Konohagakure territory.

"Fine. Start counting." He said as he took off. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Playing hide-and-seek with a little girl. I bet she's still a genin. And I actually took her bait.

Sasuke made a mental note to kick himself later.

--

As soon as they broke through the leaves, Naruto tackled the kunoichi. They rolled over and over, punching and kicking, and in Rosuto's case, scratching (long nails are nice). Naruto tried to put her in a headlock, but she easily wiggled out of it and jumped back.

They both stopped and stared at each other, panting for breath.

"You're pretty good," she told him.

"You too," he replied, "for a girl." Actually, he was rather impressed. Naruto had built up a lot of muscle over the years, but she had held her own against him, despite the fact that he was older and bigger than she was.

"Heh … I'll take that as a compliment." she smiled at him.

"Enough playtime. Let's get down to business!" Naruto began forming seals in preparation for an attack. Immediately, Rosuto began to form seals as well, and they finished simultaneously, crying out:

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!"

Instantly, nearly two thousand of their clones filled the training area. With a loud battle cry, they all took to the air, hurling themselves at each other.

One by one, the clones began to dissipate. Both shinobi punched, kicked, and sliced their way through the clones to get to the other. The smoke filled the air as they defeated each other's Bunshin, slowly making their way to the center of the fray.

When Naruto threw his kunai through the head of yet another clone, he suddenly sighted her. Rosuto lashed out against an onslaught of a dozen of his doppelgangers, her fists and feet a wild melee of blows. He swiftly pulled out another kunai and charged.

"Hyaaa-HAAAAAAAHH!!" he swung his arm back, ready to pierce through her skull.

Rosuto swiftly bent backwards, almost impossibly far, in order to dodge the blow. She placed her arms backward, carrying the motion to do a complete backflip. Naruto had to take a step back in order to avoid her knee colliding into his chin, accidentally dropping his kunai in the process. She landed in a crouching position, instantly jumping back up to attack. They both slammed their palms together, their fingers interlocking as they pitted their strength against the other, trying to force the foe back.

Naruto was winning. Rosuto grunted as the earth grinded beneath her feet; she was slowly sliding backwards. They both stared into the other's eyes, the will to win evident on their faces, the sweat dripping off their bodies. But the connection they shared in that look went deeper than that. Far deeper than he knew.

She dropped her head, breaking the link between them. Her neck went totally limp, her shoulders visibly drooping. Her feet slid another ten centimeters. Her teeth grinded together as she struggled to not lose control.

"I … will … not … LOSE!!" Rosuto yelled defiantly at her enemy. Her muscles bulged, her grip tightened, nearly breaking his fingers. When she looked back up at him, hair partially obscuring her face, her eyes had changed. They were no longer the calm, sheer white from before. Her eyes were now filled with pure, red-hot fury. They were the color of blood.

A primordial cry ripped from her throat as she pushed back. Naruto slid one foot, two feet, three feet backward before Rosuto pushed him from her grasp. He nearly lost his balance, and didn't see what was coming next.

She punched him right below his ribcage, severely damaging his diaphragm. Then she got behind him, her roundhouse kick colliding with his ribs, pushing him sideways. Immediately, she appeared at his side, driving her fist right into the side of his face, splitting his lip and knocking a few teeth loose in the process.

Rosuto continually landed fearsome blows, each time pushing Naruto in another direction, until she suddenly appeared next to him (whether through a teleportation technique or just high speed, he couldn't tell) and hit him again. Each time she hit a vital area; his ribs, kidneys, diaphragm, head, liver, spine, shoulder, the list went on. She even took out a knife once to slash his Achilles tendon on his right leg, crippling him.

She persistently punished his body like this until she could no longer think of any area to attack. Then after landing one last kick, she left him to fall on the ground, bruised, bloody, and barely able to breath. He was too weak to use what little chakra he had left, and all of his Bunshin had dispersed. He had lost their match of strength.

But he wasn't finished yet.

Ugh … I can barely keep my eyes open. She's a lot stronger than she looks.

Naruto rolled over onto his stomach. The motion put pressure on his ribs, and he could barely keep himself from crying out at the fiery pain that swept through his body. They were clearly broken. Next, he tried to push himself up off the ground, his muscles in perpetual agony as he barely managed to prop himself up on his hands and knees. He coughed up a small amount of blood. It's been a long time since I coughed up blood, he thought. I haven't been in this bad of condition since my first chunin exams.

He glanced up at her. "You won't get me –" he coughed up more blood, "– that easy. I don't quit. I don't just lay down and die." Naruto coughed up a little more blood. He was in pretty bad shape. This was definitely no ordinary little girl.

"How old are you?" he weakly asked her.

"Fourteen." Rosuto was breathing heavily. After losing control and attacking him like that, she had worn herself out. She dropped heavily to the ground, ending up, ironically, in the same position Naruto was in; on her hands and knees.

"Huh. Sasuke was wrong after all. You can fight pretty well." Naruto's mouth was now covered in blood. It was beginning to drip down his chin.

"You're … not … that bad … yourself," she gasped, "normally, … anyone else … would be dead by now." Rosuto smiled weakly at him. "I'm almost … out of chakra."

"Me too," he rasped.

"Whadya say … we call it a draw … and go get you … some medical treatment?" her breathing rate was slowly getting worse, but she tried not to show it.

"Sounds good to me. But first, you have to promise me something." he grinned a her.

"What?"

"That someday, we'll have a rematch."

"Deal."

Sakura leapt from branch to branch, moving as fast as she could. She had to find Naruto, before the fight between him and the mysterious shinobi named Rosuto escalated. That girl used a special kind of weapon, and if she attacked Naruto there was no doubt that he would be in trouble.

She pushed herself even faster. Both of their lives were in danger! She had to get there in time!!

Sakura could see the light coming from a break in the trees. She was nearly there! Her lungs were burning and her thighs starting to cramp up from the stress. Come on, don't quit on me now! Just a few more feet, she thought.

Finally she burst through the last few branches. She let out a small gasp of shock.

There they were, both on their knees, exhausted. Naruto looked awful, covered in cuts and bruises, blood dripping from his mouth. Rosuto's breathing was irregular, and she had started wheezing; her limbs were shaking. Sakura was too late.

And yet, remarkably, they were both smiling.

"Naruto?" Sakura ventured.

"Huh?" both shinobi looked up at her, but Rosuto didn't say anything.

"Are you all right?" Sakura asked.

"No, Sakura – I don't think I am." he replied.

Both of the shinobi in front of Sakura collapsed on the ground.

--

Sasuke had been found. For the third time.

"Looks like I win again!" Rosuto smirked at him.

He scowled right back at her.

"Oh!" she cried out. Her triumphant grin turned into a look of mild surprise, as she suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

He had been playing hide-and-seek with a little girl's doppelganger! And lost!!

Sasuke made a mental note not to tell Naruto about this.

And where was Naruto, anyway? Sasuke ran back to where he had left his backpack. It was still lying there on the ground, along with everyone else's stuff.

And everyone else had vanished into thin air.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke activated his kekkei genkai. Immediately, the world around him was seen in a higher aspect. No leaf, no insect, no tiny detail escaped him. Including the footprints that his teammates and enemy had left behind. So she had distracted him while fighting the others somewhere else. He had badly underestimated the foreign shinobi.

Sasuke took off for the forest training ground. That's where the footprints where headed.

--

Sakura frantically rushed over to Naruto. She checked his pulse – his heart was still beating fine. It was then she noticed the blood beginning to seep into his jacket. She flipped him over on his back, pulled out a kunai, and sliced though his shirt. She bit her lip as she inspected his chest. He had several broken ribs, and he was bleeding – Rosuto had hit him so hard that one of his ribs had punctured his right lung. He was having trouble breathing – besides his lung filling with blood, his diaphragm was severely damaged and he could barely move. Several other essential organs had been damaged as well, and he suffered from major internal bleeding. He was just barely conscious.

"Sakura … chan …" he muttered.

"Naruto, don't talk. You're in critical condition!"

"Help … Rosuto." Blood dripped from his mouth and down his chin. "I'll be … alright."

"Naruto, I can't! You're my teammate! She's foreign!! And look how badly you're hurt!"

"Kyuubi," was all he said before unconsciousness took him. It was only a simple word, but she understood the meaning behind it. He was referring to the fox demon that the Fourth Hokage locked inside of him. It would keep him alive … for now.

Sakura turned to the young kunoichi to her right. She was laying on her side, her breath coming in short, uneven gasps. She fell on her back, clutching her chest. Even as Sakura watched, her breathing became worse. Rosuto began to have muscle spasms, and her wheezing breaths caught in her throat. She began to choke, seemingly on the very air she breathed. Sakura rushed to her aid, bending down and pressing her ear to Rosuto's chest to listen. A look of horror flashed across her face. The kunoichi before her had developed ventricular fibrillation, and there was no way she could perform a surgery in the middle of the forest.

Out of nowhere, a puff of smoke filled the clearing, and a ninja stepped forward. It was Kakashi.

"Yo," he stated as he walked over to Sakura. When he opened his one uncovered eye and took in the scene before him, his cool attitude changed. "What's going on here?" he asked, mildly surprised.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!? WE'VE TOTALLY LOST SASUKE, NARUTO HAS A PUNCTURED LUNG AND IS BLEEDING INTERNALLY, AND THIS FOREIGN-NIN IS SUFFERING FROM VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION AND IF WE DON'T GET THEM BOTH TO THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW THEY COULD DIE!! NOT TO MENTION I MIGHT HAVE LEAD POISONING!!" Sakura ranted at him.

"Oh. That's all?" he asked her. "I thought it would be worse."

"HOW COULD IT BE WORSE?! SASUKE IS MISSING!!" she screamed at him.

"Okay, okay, chill. I don't need you freaking out on me. Ventricular fibrillation, a punctured lung, internal bleeding, and lead poisoning, you say? We better go see Tsunade for this one. Sasuke can find his own way back." Kakashi took Naruto and gently hefted him into his arms so that he wasn't touching the blonde's damaged ribs. A small trickle of blood ran down his lips.

"Can you get her? With Naruto like this, I can't carry two bodies."

"Yeah." Sakura hefted Rosuto onto her back, and winced as the young girl's uneven breathing reached her ears. A few more minutes, and she would be dead. They needed to get back to Konohagakure, now.

"Okay. Gather the chakra in your feet," Kakashi instructed her, "and move as fast and smoothly as you can. That one doesn't need any more jostling than she's already got."

Sakura nodded as they took off toward the west.

--

Sasuke followed the footprints until he reached the training ground. The first thing he noticed when he not there was the blood spattered all over the ground. The second thing he noticed was the scroll tied to a kunai that was shoved into the earth in the middle of it. He opened it and read:

Dear Sasuke-kun,

Met Kakashi and gone back to the village. Meet us there in the hospital. Naruto needs help. See you soon!

Sakura

He tossed the scroll back onto the ground. Great, he thought. Now I have to carry all of their stuff back. Figures.

--

"Grandpa, is Naruto gonna die? I don't want him to die!" one of the little girls sobbed as she looked up at her grandfather.

"No, not yet he isn't. Not for a while after that," he answered.

"But what about that other girl?" a little boy asked. "I don't want her to die, either!"

"No, no, no. No one dies. Don't worry about it!" he smiled down at them.

"Okay." They all nodded in response, apparently satisfied.

--

Author's Note:

So here's the second chapter of my first fanfic. Did a lot of research on this one, but you won't be able to really tell until next chapter. Also ended up a lot shorter than the last one, too. And why does no one review?! IT'S NOT THAT HARD, PEOPLE!!

I will introduce some new characters next chapter!! (ha ha!)

So, Kakashi shows up late (but you all knew he would, anyway), Sakura feels the first affects of the wound she got earlier, Naruto and Rosuto are dying, and Sasuke still hasn't caught up to this recent turn of events.

What is that idiot doing, anyway?

Now, on to the next chapter! It comes over the horizon!!

So review now while you wait for it!