I changed Naruto's heritage too. If some of the characters are OOC, don't complain because this is an AU fanfic, meaning some of them will be OOC.
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke, as much as I dislike him, wouldn't have to suffer.
Chapter Three: In The Rain
Naruto stared at the ground as he walked beside Kurenai down the hospital hall. They were releasing him because of the Genin class meeting. He had to find out about his team, and the doctors deemed him well enough to leave. He could still hear the creepy voice saying the same thing over and over again. He didn't want to know the truth anymore. He'd rather live the lie because the lie didn't have the voice. He scratched his arm through the new clothes Kurenai gave him. The long sleeve fishnet was annoying but gave him a more mature look (in the nurse's opinion). He ignored the red eyes staring holes into the back of his dark grey t-shirt and shoved his hand into the pockets of his olive green cargo pants.
"Naruto, are you excited?" Kurenai asked. Naruto was shocked when she spoke because the voice fell silent. He looked at her and shrugged. His hitai-ate was worn on his thigh, above his kunai pouch, because he wasn't ready to put it on his forehead. Kurenai didn't question him or persist on it being tied to his forehead. Naruto wasn't a child anymore. He was a young man now. "You have to be somewhat anxious to meet your new team?" Naruto held the hospital door open and thought about his soon-to-be teammates. Who were they? Would they accept him for him? "I hear the Hokage is creating a special Genin team to follow the teachings of Hatake Kakashi." Naruto shrugged again.
"I don't care about that team. I care about my team," Naruto said. His voice sounded far off as if he wasn't all there. Kurenai forced a smile and patted his back. He didn't flinch away from her like he wanted because he knew that she stopped the voice in his head. She brought him back to sanity. They reached the Academy rather quickly, and Naruto looked at her dead in the eye. "Thank you, Kurenai. You have no idea of what you've done for me." Naruto disappeared into the building, leaving the red eyed woman confused and waiting until it was time to take her team.
"Hello Naruto," Iruka said. He smiled at the scarred boy, but Naruto wouldn't look at him due to the bandages that peeked out of the Chunin's clothes. Guilt ate away at him. Naruto took his seat beside Sakura, who was too busy staring at Naruto's "archenemy", Uchiha Sasuke. In the beginning, Sasuke used to randomly attack Naruto for brainwashing Itachi and declared himself Naruto's enemy. "Attention!" Naruto stared sharply at the chalkboard. "Today is the day you leave behind these walls and halls. Today, you're Genin and equals. I speak from the bottom of my heart when I say that this place will miss you. Someday you will be my equal, but for now, you're a Genin. You'll be separated into teams of three under the tutelage of a Jonin. This Jonin and your teammates will become your best friends in time. One day you'll thank me for this." Iruka kept bad memories of his pre-Genin and Genin days. His entire team was killed. Jonin included. He was the only survivor. Nobody understood why. Iruka smiled at his students as he turned to pick up the list of teams. He pushed away memories of the investigation, hospital stays, and jail time. Iruka was forever an academy teacher because of a childish mistake. "You're now adults. The world is expecting great things from all of you." Iruka ran when his team needed him the most because he was afraid. Children run, but shinobi children never ran. They took death before running. Iruka sighed and read off the teams. "Team Seven is Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto resisted against shouting out. He clenched his fist under the desk. Iruka finished and opened the door for the Jonin to come in. Soon the room was cleaned out with Team Seven remaining. Naruto didn't look at Kurenai when she took her team away. "Team Seven, I'm actually going to look forward to see you advancing through the ranks." Iruka left quickly after that. Naruto immediately got out of his seat and walked down to the door.
"What are you doing? Don't do something to get us stripped of rank!" Sakura shouted. Naruto noticed that the voice was beaten in volume by the loud girl. He looked at her and shrugged. Making her even worse. She soon quieted while Naruto's back was turn. He felt staring, so he looked over at them. Sakura had a hand over her mouth as if to stop her from talking anymore. Sasuke had narrow eyes. Naruto knew what they were staring at. The hospital had cut his hair short, so the scars from beatings and jumping could be seen. He didn't care anymore. "Naruto, what happened to you?" Naruto froze. Only Kurenai cared about that. The Hokage left him to rot in the hospital. The white haired boy turned away from them. He simple took an eraser from the board and placed it in the door to fall on the next person to enter the room. Sakura was yelling at him about something, but he pretended not to hear her.
"Good idea. No Jonin would be caught by a simple child's trick," Sasuke said. Sakura instantly agreed with Sasuke. Naruto looked at them and kept back from talking to them. He found something new to hate. Fan girls were like a plague. He chalked it up to being something only other girls would understand. He pulled at his shirt collar as he returned to his seat. "You aren't a talker, are you?" Naruto looked at the black haired boy. He usually avoided anyone from the Uchiha clan, but since Itachi killed them, he stayed far away from Sasuke. He wasn't ready to make another Uchiha friend.
"I used to be as a child," Naruto said. Sakura asked the next question, and it was the most basic of all interrogation questions. Why? "I'm a living tragedy." He didn't trust them enough to know about Tora, Hikari, and Itachi. He still had nightmares. Sakura and Sasuke asked a few more questions, but Naruto looked away and didn't answer anymore. Why did they need to know? It was his business. The voice whispered at the back of his head. Taunting him almost. He could feel it practically crawling on his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut and wished for Kurenai's voice.
"Naruto?" Kurenai's voice asked. Naruto felt the voice retreat and sighed. He relaxed and kept his eyes closed until he felt someone touch his shoulder. He snapped his head up to look at Kurenai. She smiled at him. "Looks like someone didn't get any sleep last night." Naruto rubbed his eyes, thinking it was just his imagination that created the image. She was real. Thank goodness. Naruto shrugged in response and ignored his teammates. "I forgot to give you something this morning. I thought you'd want your early birthday present just in case one of us is out of the village." Naruto gave her his eyes smile and turned in what she remembered him as at ten. "I meant to give it to you when we left, but we got to talking, and it slipped my mind." Kurenai was probably finished with her students already, but Naruto didn't care. The voice was muted, and she remembered this year about his birthday. "Here you go." Kurenai smiled as she handed him the package. It was small, but it meant the world to Naruto.
"Thank you," Naruto said as he opened it. It was a necklace. The pendent on it was black with a different kanji on either side. One side had the kanji for illusion while the other had the kanji for fox. Naruto gave out another eye smile and slipped it around his neck. "Thank you." Naruto was trying to think of a way to stall her leaving because he hated the voice. "Are you done with your students already?" Naruto looked innocent to Kurenai. She smiled and sat down next to him. Sasuke and Sakura were confused by what was going on. It wasn't everyday you see a nonfamily member Jonin talking to a Genin that wasn't a student of theirs on friendly terms.
"I have to run a test on them tomorrow, but we finished the introductions. I have to say one thing, Naruto. My one student could give you a run for your money. He's so much like you," Kurenai said. Sasuke kept note of this. He knew it was between Kiba and Shino. Both of them were good fighters. Naruto shrugged and gave her a look that made her laugh. "Naruto, don't underestimate them so quickly. I'm sure they don't know what you keep up your sleeves." Kurenai noticed Sasuke and Sakura staring at her. She smiled at them as kindly as she could. What a terrible bunch for a team. "Who are your teammates, Naruto? It's rude not to introduce them." Naruto raised his eyebrow and received a glare for his troubles.
"Haruno Sakura, ranked highest in the class in intelligence and self-proclaimed Sasuke's future wife. Uchiha Sasuke, this year's Rookie of the Year and my self-proclaimed archenemy," Naruto said. Sakura resisted glaring at him while Sasuke looked away. He wasn't about to be insulted. "Kurenai, how did you get by my prank?" Kurenai smiled at the boy. She could still clearly remember the day he proclaimed that he would marry her. Naruto looked at the door to make sure the eraser was still there. It was.
"I came through the window," Kurenai said, pointing to the open window. Naruto nodded. He noted that it was getting late in the day. Where was their sensei? Nobody was this late. Naruto glared at Kurenai when she ruffled his hair before she stood up. She was leaving. Oh god no. The voice would come back. "Naruto, you stay safe. Meet me at Ichiraku's after you're done. It's on me for your graduation." Naruto nodded and was happy. Kurenai walked back over to the window. She looked back at her favorite person. "Naruto, that necklace is to be a reminder. If you lose sight of yourself, just look at it. It'll bring you back no matter what." Kurenai slipped out the window just as the door was opening. Naruto missed his prank pay off, but Sasuke laughed with Sakura. The white haired boy looked down at a silver haired Jonin staring at the eraser on the floor.
"My first impression is I hate you," Kakashi said. He gave them a smile that they saw with his only visible eye. Naruto shrugged. He was used to hatred. He would rather be hated and insulted than ignored. He placed mental blocks against the returning voice and listened for his instructions. "I'm sadly to inform you that you'll never see your friends again if you pass tomorrow. You'll be too busy being part of the Konoha Assassination Corps. You are all members of Assassin Team Sixty-seven, the first Genin group ever. Meet me on the roof for further information." Kakashi said all that with that damn smile of his. He was observing them. Assessing them. He would break these brats over and over again. "Don't be too slow." Kakashi disappeared, and Naruto went straight into action. He went out the window instead of the door. He climbed up the wall and heard Sakura's scream. He shook his head and made it to the roof first. Kakashi and him watched with amusement as two feathered Genin walked onto the room. "A good ninja always looks for traps. Especially assassins look for traps." Kakashi waited until they were all seated on a set of stairs. "So, introductions, tell me your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams." He waited, but nothing happened. Kakashi looked at the confused looks and sighed. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I like many things and dislike very little. My hobbies and dreams aren't something important to know." Kakashi smiled as Sakura loudly complained about his introduction. "Pinky, first."
"I'm Haruno Sakura. My likes are (a glance at Sasuke). My hobbies are reading and flower art. My dreams are (another glance at Sasuke). My dislikes are Naruto and Ino," Sakura said. Naruto rolled his eyes at her antics. She had nothing against him. Kakashi watched with amusement. Sakura would break first. It was a guaranteed break. She would probably want to quit after the first assassination. Kakashi smiled behind his mask. This was going to be fun. More fun than he had imagined.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like tomatoes, training, and sparring Naruto. My hobbies are plotting ways to defeat Naruto and learning jutsu. My dislikes are when Naruto refuses to fight me and when I lose. I don't dream. I set goals. My goal is to kill a man and revive my clan," Sasuke said. He stared straight at Kakashi as he spoke. The Jonin understood the Uchiha's twisted logic. Naruto was close to Itachi, meaning that Naruto would be the closest thing to Itachi that Sasuke could test himself on. Kakashi figured it would be a tie between Naruto and Sasuke who would break first. Kakashi had a feeling Sasuke would lose. He set his eyes on the final member of Team Seven.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like very little and dislike many things. My hobbies are no concern of this team because my personal life isn't one to be discussed. My dreams are to fulfill a promise," Naruto said, not noticing the voice was silent. Kakashi smirked at the likes and dislikes part. This kid was good. Kakashi was going to have a lot of fun making this kid crumble like a ragdoll. Naruto was not going to receive any mercy from Kakashi. The Jonin relaxed and sighed.
"Even though you're a special squad, I still have to test you. Your test will last seventy-two hours, and it'll take place in Training Ground Forty-Four. The only way to pass this test is to come at me like you mean to kill. Mind you that this test holds a sixty-six percent failure rate," Kakashi said. He pulled out three scrolls and passed them out. "On the scroll gives the details of the equipment needed, a map of the area, and time you should be there. Treat these like mission scrolls. I hope you understand what I mean by that." Naruto was trying to figure out what Kakashi's game was. He put the scroll in his pocket while Sakura and Sasuke ripped theirs right open. "See you tomorrow." Kakashi disappeared in a poof. Naruto got up and left his teammates behind without a single word. What could he tell them? They already knew they were in for a long night to get the glue off.
Naruto stepped outside the academy and yawned. It was getting to be around dinnertime, so people were starting to clear the streets except for the couples and overworked parents. Naruto felt a twinge of hurt when none of them looked at him with glares. They were treating him like a ticking time bomb. The white haired boy was ready to scream that he was right there. He was close to begging them to punch him, laugh at his idiocy, and put him down. Naruto looked at all the people on the streets and masked his feelings. The voice was returning. It had stayed surprisingly quiet during Kakashi's instructions. The crazy boy shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking towards Ichiraku's, where Kurenai was waiting for him. She was talking with Ayame about something as he walked over. He quietly took his seat next to her and nodded at Ayame and her dad. Kurenai smiled at him.
"So, Naruto, do you want to meet here tomorrow after you take the second test?" Kurenai asked as two hot bowls of miso ramen were placed down in front of them. Naruto stared at the noodles and felt sick. Tomorrow was the beginning of Hell. He wouldn't look at her. Kurenai was worried about him. He wasn't himself anymore. "Naruto, if you need help, I'll get you some. It's okay. All shinobi go insane in the Assassin Corps." She knew about his team. She knew even before they left the hospital. Naruto looked at her and sighed.
"I won't be here tomorrow," Naruto said. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks as Kurenai was coming up with ways to talk him out of it. "My test is special. It's going to last seventy-two hours. I don't know what we'll be doing. I've got to go get supplies after this, so I can't stay long." Naruto broke the chopsticks and began eating. Kurenai sighed and began to eat her food as well. Naruto was okay. He had to be. "Kurenai, what kind of training will I be put through?" Kurenai's heart and stomach dropped. Naruto looked at her with confused eyes. He was just a kid, but it was Kurenai's duty as a Jonin to educate the Genin. Naruto was looking for education.
"Hell, Naruto. You'll be put through Hell. I suspect you'll have to kill criminals on death row until you don't care that the things you're hacking through are human still," Kurenai said. Her older brother was accepted into the corps before he died. He came home one night and just stared at her and their youngest brother. Kurenai never heard her brother laugh again. His joyful laughter died the day he killed a completely innocent woman that was mixed up in a trial. "Naruto, my older brother was in the corps. He came home every night and would watch everyone as if he was watching a movie. He stopped laughing and smiling. He stopped talking just before you were born. I think he was about to kill himself." Kurenai never wanted to admit to watching her brother clean up in the washroom, the room in the house where Father and Ni-san cleaned their weapons, uniforms, and skin. They even repaired their wounds in that room. Her older brother often came home with bloodstained clothes and dyed skin. For weeks, his skin held a light pink tone to it. Kurenai looked at Naruto now and couldn't picture that. "As soon as you can, get out." Kurenai unconsciously knew that Naruto would never leave the corps. Nobody every left them unless they were dead or too sick to continue.
"I should get going. I need to get some sleep tonight and get my supplies," Naruto said. He left rather quickly and was shuffling through his pockets to find something. Kurenai sighed and noticed that his bowl was half-eaten. He was probably feeling sick from the medication in the hospital. Kurenai paid for the meals and stared down the street, where the supply store was. She wanted to go with him, but he looked like he didn't want to be bothered, so Kurenai headed home.
ICECOLD
Naruto was the first one to show up at the gate to the forest. He carried only a small backpack that had adrenaline and caffeine shots, first aid kit, and two extra kunai. He took to wearing olive green cargo pants, dark grey top over a fishnet top, and his black tinted goggles someone gave for his birthday one year. He forgot the name by now, so it must've been someone he hadn't seen in awhile. Naruto looked through them at the sky and sighed. Everything was to be dark to him because nobody was light.
"How long have you been here?" a new voice asked. Naruto looked over at his teammates. They looked scared for the unspoken. Naruto shrugged. He couldn't remember. "Where did you get the weird goggles?" Sakura's voice cut through the one Naruto was growing use to hearing. He didn't know when it changed, but the voice was different from the one he heard in the forest. Sakura and Sasuke sat down near him and were quiet for a long time. "Is it true that you killed someone to become a Genin?" Naruto looked at her through the goggles and frowned. She was as dark as he expected.
"Yes," Naruto said after a long silence. He retreated back into the comfortable silence as the voice whispered in his ears. It wanted blood. Naruto clenched his fists. The voice told him of fear. He looked at Sakura and wondered how to get her to talk. "Talk. I don't care about what, but you have to start talking." Sakura, frightened by his tone, began talking about her cousins being in the ANBU. Heck, Sasuke opened up about a few new jutsu he was trying to get down. They looked at Naruto, who held a poker face. Tell them about the man you killed. Tell him about the man you fear. "I like ramen because my adopted father took me there the day before he left. For some unknown reason, I love fairy tales and hero stories. My aunt and father used to tell me them all the time. I dislike being ignored because it cuts extremely deep, to the point of a dull numb." The voice was retreating. Naruto felt better as they started another round of talking. Something had them connected as one.
It was an hour before Kakashi showed up. He was greeted by an interesting site. His students were challenging each other on who could stay balanced on their finger the longest. Sakura had obviously failed, and Sasuke was shaking. Naruto looked bored. Kakashi cleared his throat, and Sasuke fell down. Naruto stood back up at looked at the tardy shinobi. Kakashi wondered what kind of fun he could have with this test. These kids needed to be broken. The breaking of them should be fun.
"Okay, time to reveal your exam," Kakashi said. He brought out two silver bells. The team was confused. Two bells? Get real. He must've dropped one somewhere. "You have to get a bell before the end of the time limit. If you don't then you go back to the academy." Kakashi clipped the bells to his waist. "Yes, I'm aware there are only two. One person will be sent to the academy." Kakashi smiled at them. Naruto didn't want to look at the forest beyond the gate. Something about the place made him shiver. He followed Sakura and Sasuke as Kakashi led them into the forest without any second thoughts. "One…two…three…Go!" They all disappeared except for Kakashi, who locked the gate with a chakra seal. He looked around him and took what looked like a Sunday stroll through the scary place.
ICECOLD
Naruto finished laying traps out around his recovery point, a giant tree with roots coming up from under the earth. This would be the spot he'd return to no matter what. He double checked everything before leaving to find Kakashi. It wasn't hard because Sasuke made a lot of noise when fighting. Stupid kid. Naruto remained in the shadows as Sasuke's fight finished. Naruto noticed something about Kakashi's expression. It looked disappointed, but he wasn't looking at Sasuke. Naruto found this interesting and retreated because there was no way he could fight alone. He needed reinforcements. Sakura and Sasuke were going to help willing or not. He didn't care.
Sakura was hiding, waiting for the right opportunity. She thought her spot was undetectable, but she was wrong as a kunai dropped down into the earth in front of her. She jumped out of fear and thought she was being silly. She noticed that the kunai had a note attached to it. It was directions to a locating from her hiding spot with a small instruction. 'Come to assist in defeating the Scarecrow at dawn.' Sakura didn't know what to do. She looked at the directions and felt like a baby for being afraid. She was willing to help because she was not going to be the weak one anymore.
Sasuke retreated after his fight to a pond. He was tensed and ready for any. When a kunai flew into the ground, he nearly fell into the water out of fear. He glared at the weapon and noticed a note attached to it. The note contained directions from the pond to another location. Sasuke won't have trusted it except for the message that said, 'Come to assist in defeating the Scarecrow at dawn.' Naruto must've grown a brain recently. Sasuke smirked and couldn't wait for dawn to roll around.
Kakashi smiled to himself as he read Icha Icha. They were all well hidden. Only morning would draw them out like ants. He settled himself into a tree and stayed awake because he didn't want to be left open to an attack. Kakashi noticed something about the eerie silence. The animals and the bugs were never this quiet. There wasn't a single noise. Someone more powerful than them had entered the forest. Kakashi wanted to leave it at it was Naruto's aura of being the Kyuubi container, but he couldn't. The silence was suffocating. Kakashi went to check on his students, careful not to break the silence.
ICECOLD
The darkness and silence bothered Naruto as he sat in his hiding spot. He couldn't stop thinking of the night Mizuki died. The silence claimed the voice in the back of his mind too. It was becoming all too creepily similar to that night. Naruto had removed his goggles once the darkness fell and kept a few explosive notes in his pocket. Something moved to his left, making Naruto jump. He stood up and looked around. Quickly, he checked his traps. They were still okay, so he went back to sitting down. It was probably an animal. Naruto pleaded mentally for the voice to come back and break the silence. Not a single word came from his mind. He was definitely losing it.
"Who's there!" Naruto shouted in desperation. He was really losing it. Naruto scrambled to his feet and pulled out a single kunai. "I'm armed!" Naruto felt childish. He was terrified though. Fear had engulfed his soul. One of his traps went off with a shout and scream. Naruto rushed to see what happened. None of the traps were lethal. They were more annoying than anything really. "It's just you two." Sakura was trying to help Sasuke out of being hung from a tree by his ankle. "I thought you were someone else. Thinking about, you're the only two that wouldn't have seen those traps." Naruto used the kunai to cut the rope and turned away. "It's a little early don't you think?" Naruto didn't care. He was thankful for the company. Sakura helped Sasuke up and followed Naruto back to his hiding spot.
"It was stupid of you to shout out," Sasuke said. He wasn't angry. "Are you afraid of the dark?" Naruto looked at Sasuke like he was crazy. Naruto wasn't afraid of the dark. He was afraid of what came out of the darkness. "Why should we help you defeat Kakashi? There are only two bells." Naruto closed his eyes and tried to see if anything or anybody was nearby. He sighed and sat down against the tree. He drew into the ground with his finger. It was a battle plan. "Why should we help you?" Sasuke was annoyed now. He knew Naruto didn't talk much, but now the boy seemed agitated.
"I need your help, and you need mine. I'm not going back to the Academy. They'll put me away until classes start," Naruto said. The doctors were talking to the Hokage about that. They wanted Naruto to stay longer if he didn't pass this test. "Teamwork. I remember Kurenai talking about Kakashi one day. She was complaining because even though he values teamwork, he doesn't work well with some people." Naruto was drawing on old memories. "He looked rather disappointed in your fight with him, but it wasn't because you failed. He was staring at the air around you as if disappointed that you were alone." Sasuke nodded. He looked at the drawing. Two circles were holding onto a square while a third circle was coming straight for the square.
"We need something to take Kakashi out. He's too strong for two of us to hold for very long," Sasuke said. In the time they were able to hold Kakashi down, they couldn't get the bells. Barely brush them probably. Naruto nodded and was in deep thought. Sakura just watched because Naruto's plan was more possible than anyone else's. She looked at the drawing and saw what could work.
"You could stab him or inject him with something," Sakura said. Naruto looked at her and nodded. He began looking through his pockets and bag. A syringe fell out of the bag's pocket along. The liquid inside was clear, and the needle had a cover on it. Naruto smiled as he picked it up. "Naruto, what is that? That seems dangerous." Naruto looked at Sakura and shrugged.
"It's sedatives. I'm to use it to sleep at night for the rest of the week. This is probably enough to knock him out for a few minutes. They're not as strong as the ones I've received in the hospital, so a few minutes are all we'll get," Naruto said. He looked at the syringe and smiled scarily. "Who wants to be the one to give it to me?" Naruto's smile was forced as his eyes darkened. Sakura and Sasuke were confused. "I need this to sleep, but I'm too scared to do it by myself." Sasuke sighed and got up. He walked away rather agitated. "Sasuke! This isn't the time to go to the bathroom!" Naruto coughed, which frightened Sakura. She was disturbed by her teammates' behavior.
"He's gone," Sasuke said. Naruto nodded and put the syringe into his kunai pouch. He went over the plan one more time and made it clear that Sakura and Sasuke would have to hold tight for at least thirty seconds. "He's a Jonin, so it'll be hard." Naruto nodded. Thirty seconds was all they needed for Naruto to inject the Jonin and maybe a minute before the drugs took effect. "Naruto, is this safe?" Naruto looked at Sasuke in surprised. Who cared? "We don't want to kill him." Naruto scratched his nose.
"If they gave a twelve-year-old this amount, it's safe for a twenty-six-year-old. If it hurts him, we'll take him to the hospital. No problem," Naruto said, shrugging. He rested against the tree a little more and closed his eyes. "No worries about watch. Kakashi isn't around, and I've got enough traps around to scare off or stop any animal." Sakura looked around into the darkness. "Besides, they're afraid of this spot." Sasuke was about to question, but Naruto was already asleep. The forest did seem quiet now that he thought about it. Not a peep came from any bugs or animals. Scary really.
ICECOLD
Morning brought rain, a shinobi's worse enemy. Naruto sighed as he put his goggles on. His vision was already bad without them, so it didn't matter much. He looked at Sakura and Sasuke. They were soaked as well. There were no talks on how the weather was or the day's activities. They were quiet except for Naruto's mind. It started back up again as soon as the rain started. The voice was complaining about the rain and how it was cold. Naruto yawned and mentally agreed with the voice for once.
"Naruto, be careful," Sakura said before Sasuke and her went off to search for Kakashi. Naruto would be trailing them, but he wouldn't be close enough to be spotted. The rain depressed him as he left that spot soon after the other two were gone. Why did it depress him that it was rain? Nobody died in the rain. Everybody died when it was happier out. Naruto planned to die when it rain. He didn't even glance back at the spot as he left because the voice told him not to.
Kakashi was a hard man to find, but Sakura and Sasuke succeeded. They attacked him and latched onto his legs as he dodged the first attacks. He didn't know what to do except kick his legs out. He felt another person latch onto his back and something pointing at a vein in his neck. He stopped moving and glanced at Naruto. The white haired boy smiled and patted Kakashi's face.
"Goodnight, sensei," Naruto said. He stabbed the vein with the needle and injected the sedatives. Kakashi immediately knew what they were up to and went through the hand seals for a genjutsu. He only had time to slap Naruto on the forehead before going down. Naruto stumbled backwards from the knocked out Jonin before falling down unconscious as well. Sakura quickly removed the bells and ran over to where Sasuke was checking over Naruto. There weren't any markings that indicated anything. They were lost and didn't know what to do.
"Sasuke, what do we do?" Sakura asked. Sasuke looked at her and shrugged. He didn't know. "This wasn't part of the plan." Sakura tried using the genjutsu dispeller, but it didn't work. They looked through Naruto's bag for something, but nothing appeared. The bag was almost empty. "We have to wait for Kakashi to get up. He'll be up soon because Naruto said it would only be a few minutes." Sakura brought her knees to her chest and wrapped one arm around them while her other hand held Naruto's. She wasn't going to leave, and neither was Sasuke. Not without Kakashi and Naruto.
ICECOLD
Kakashi woke up with a headache and stared up at the sky. It was still raining and was getting dark out. He sat up and expected his students to be gone, but Sasuke and Sakura were still there, sitting next to a still unconscious Naruto. Kakashi ran through his sleepy mind what happened. They used Naruto's sedatives on him. Naruto must've thought Kakashi would only be out for a few minutes. They gave the twelve-year-old enough sedatives to knock out a grown man. The Jonin stood up and walked (stumbled) over to his students. They passed because they used teamwork. He was proud and confused. Naruto was still out. Sasuke jumped up when Kakashi got near.
"Stand down. You three passed," Kakashi said. He noticed that the forest was stilled almost to a complete pause. "He's under a powerful genjutsu. For the first twelve hours, he'll remain unconscious in an almost dead state. The next twenty-four hours will be Hell because he'll be living in a nightmare world. It was a mistake, but if I had woken up earlier, I would've been able to reverse it." Kakashi fell to his knees and raised Naruto's goggles. He lifted up one of the eyelids. "See." Naruto's pupils were dilating. "It's too late to stop it." Kakashi sighed. "I'll take him someplace safe. You two go home and rest up. In three days I was you to meet me in front of the Academy. Your test for the Assassin's Corps will take place then." Kakashi watched them leave because he ordered them too. They were going to make fine soldiers. In three days, they will hate him and want to leave the shinobi life behind.
Kakashi threw Naruto over his shoulder and looked around. The forest held no sound. Only the rain made any noise. It was frightening and made Kakashi worried. Who was out there? Someone more frightening than the Kyuubi had to be the cause. Kakashi couldn't sense anyone, so it was really bugging him. He jumped into the trees and sped out of the forest. He couldn't help Naruto, but he knew who could. She would be the only one in Konoha able to help him.
ICECOLD
"I can't help him," Kurenai said. She looked at the sleeping body of her friend. Kakashi hadn't moved from the doorway. "I suppose I can watch over him while this blows over. He'll react better when he wakes up if I'm here." Kurenai wished she knew how to stop this genjutsu. It was something she had been working on for ten years. "I still can't believe he gave you sedatives." Kakashi looked at her. Kurenai smiled and shrugged. "You can check in on him tomorrow. See you later, Kakashi." The Jonin nodded and walked out into the rain. Kurenai looked back at Naruto. "I can't image what is going through your mind right now." Naruto's brows scrunched up as if he were in pain.
"Itachi, please don't leave," Naruto mumbled. Kurenai shook her head and went to get dry clothes for the boy to wear. He wasn't going to awake anytime soon. She left the room, and Naruto rolled over. He was battling his demons and was probably losing. Nobody knew exactly what went on in the nightmare. It was different for everybody. Naruto's were probably worse.
Okay, next chapter's end will be with Naruto conscious. Don't forget to review. I live on reviews people. – Kyuubi no Kitsune0101