Hope you guys liked the last chapter, and will like this chapter. I hope the explanation on chakra makes sense, and also the explanation with hand seals.

Revised: 11/ 30/ 12

Revision Notes: Yep yep yep! I finally finished chapter 3! Now, It's onto chapter four~

Hmm... From an eight page chapter to an eighteen page chapter... Hopefully you guys don't mind the increase in chapter length.

…

Hopefully I can manage to keep this pace up!

Vibrations Chapter 3:

Henge

o.0.O.0.o

Cold needles of dew cut through layers of unconsciousness and seeped into his dream, pulling him from the recesses of sleep. Eyes of the purest blue opened up to gaze into an equally blue sky. His clothes clung to his body, damp from the morning dew. His mind jumped back into last night, its events foggy from the dismal line between reality and dreams that comes with waking.

'That's right. Ayame and Teuchi took me in.' He smiled as he remembered their kindness and ramen. But then the whispers came to torment him, each word spoken visible through moving lips as they flew at him and seemed to pierce his skin. 'But, where am I?'

Though his neck was stiff from the awkward position he had fallen asleep in, it was easy enough for him to lift his head and look at his surroundings. Trees of various sizes wrapped around the clearing he had apparently fallen asleep in. His body was tucked into the nook of a root, fitting his form surprisingly well.

Placing his hand upon the damp soil below, Naruto pushed himself up and once again took in the view, belatedly wondering why he wasn't cold. A few birds perched on the trees, beak open to sing praise for the new day. As he took in the singing birds, Naruto grew depressed. He would never again have the voice of the birds greet him at the start of each day. 'I'm left in silence.'

Looking at the sun, he tried to estimate what time it was. He had been taught the skill last year at the academy, and it was one of the few things he remembered learning and practicing before the incident. It was a bit difficult for his still waking mind, but Naruto finally decided it was around eight o'clock. 'Shit, I'm going to be late.'

Taking off in the direction of the village, Naruto ran as fast as his short legs allowed him. He wasn't sure of the new teacher's policies, or if he tolerated tardiness, but Naruto did not want to start off on the wrong foot, especially since he was the first teacher to not openly reject him.

His pants and shirt were dirty, and a bit of mud still clung to the back of his head. Yet Naruto knew he would just have to deal with it. He wouldn't be able to stop at home and change unless he wanted to be an hour late, and by then Naruto thought he might as well not show up.

He entered the village and ran past the pedestrians bustling in the street, ignoring the strange looks they sent his way. As he approached the academy, he put on a burst of speed and slammed into the door, opening it far more loudly than was necessary.

He headed directly to the bathrooms, intent on cleaning himself just enough to not be repulsive. Using a few paper towels and water, he wiped himself off wherever he could. Still panicking, he threw the towels away and stormed into his classroom, knowing that there were some spots that he just couldn't reach.

Thirty one pairs of eyes fell onto the delinquent blond.

"Naruto, you're late." Iruka spoke the obvious. "I hope that this isn't a common occurrence with you."

"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei." Naruto spoke, bowing his head slightly in embarrassment.

Iruka nodded, accepting his apology. "Please take a seat so we can continue."

Nodding, Naruto turned and bounded up the stairs, glancing around for a seat. He spotted one next to an onyx haired boy and went up to it, promptly sitting down. He smiled and nodded at the boy, and though the other didn't smile, the boy did nod back in acknowledgement.

Naruto pulled out a little notebook that was still in his pockets from yesterday. He knew that he wouldn't be able to write any words (he didn't know any to write), but he figured he could still draw things that would remind him of key points in the lectures. It may not have been much, but he hoped it would be enough to keep him at the same pace as the other students, or at least not fall so glaringly behind.

Iruka opened his mouth to speak, and Naruto focused all his attention on the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Today class we will be learning all about chakra. What it is made of, how it interacts, and how we as ninja can be trained to manipulate it to our advantage." Turning around, Iruka placed a poster against the chalkboard.

On the poster, there was a blue silhouette of a man. He held his hands out in front of him, formed together in a strange sign. A symbol of two different energies combining was displayed on his stomach, and the energies seemed to form together and rise to escape out of the man's mouth, emerging as fire.

"Is that guy barfing fire?" Naruto blurted out.

Iruka's eye twitched, though whether in annoyance or at the energy expended from holding back his laughter few could tell. "No, he is expelling his chakra. His chakra took on the characteristics of flame as it left his mouth."

Naruto cocked his right eyebrow in confusion. "How'd it do that?"

Iruka smiled. "Good question. The chakra emerged as fire because of the hand seals used to perform the jutsu.

"Hand seals are an essential part of chakra manipulation, for while we can control chakra with our minds, there will always be a limit to what we can do. Hand seals when formed create the different signs of the animals of the zodiac, acting as an offering and in turn allowing them to lend us the use of the different essences that they represent.

"Hand seals are the cornerstone of all jutsus, for even if a ninja manages to perform a jutsu without handseals, it would have only been possible through years and years of usage and honing one's chakra. Everyone when learning a jutsu must start with hand seals, or the jutsu will inevitably fail.

"There are twelve main seals in total, each corresponding with an animal of the zodiac. There are other seals, but they usually are specific to a family jutsu or bloodline." Iruka held his hands in front of himself for all to see. He clasped them together, fingers intertwining and palms touching each other.

"This hand sign is known as Mi, or snake. The snake hand seal is most prominent in earthen jutsu."

Seeing Iruka manipulating his hands, Naruto immediately drew a poor line interpretation of the sign for future reference. Next to it he drew a squiggly line with two sharp eyes hardly touching it.

Unexpectedly, Iruka turned around and began to draw something on the board with sharp hash marks. Afraid that he wouldn't get it, Naruto's anxiousness turned to relief when Iruka turned around to speak. "This is the written character for snake. Though we already expect you to know how to write it would be best if you all study these seals for clarification, as these characters will be used in class, and in your future career, often. I suggest you write them down."

Naruto eagerly did just that.

Bringing his hands back into the snake hand sign, Iruka moved both his pointer and middle fingers on both hands to point upward. "This sign is tora, or tiger. It is notably used in many fire jutsus." He once again turned around to write a character on the board.

As Iruka went through all twelve hand seals, Naruto eagerly drew them down, showing the finger positions, the animal, and the character written on the board. There were a total of twelve including: dog, boar, rooster, dragon, rabbit, horse, goat, ox, rat, and monkey.

"Though each hand sign corresponds with a single aspect, its contribution to the jutsu can depend on what seals come before and after it, and how much control you give that particular hand sign over the jutsu. The more chakra you funnel into a single hand seal, the greater effect it would have on your jutsu. For these reasons the progression of seals in any jutsu are particularly important. For example, the use of a tiger seal at the start of a seal progression can indicate a fire jutsu, but a tiger seal after a monkey usually indicates vitality, which can be represented in a jutsu in a variety of ways.

"Learning the seals and how they interact with one another can help with not only creating your own jutsus, but also with predicting your enemy's jutsus that you are unfamiliar with. For example, if you know that the jutsu will cover a wide area it would be better to defend instead of dodge.

"In everything you learn here, remember, balance is the key to being a ninja. Don't focus only on knowledge, build your physical strengths as well. This applies even to seals, don't just know how they work, be able to sign them flawlessly. A ninja can only be a ninja if they practice both mentally and physically.

"This is best represented by chakra, our spiritual energy. Chakra is an energy created from the mix of both mental and physical energy that we build. The more a person has of both, the more chakra they're bound to have. People can be born with naturally large reserves, but that only is gifted to them if their parents had large reserves. But it doesn't matter how much one has when they were born, what matters is how much they'll gain. Even those with the largest chakra reserves can end up being surpassed by those with hardly any. The best way to access one's chakra for the first time would be to meditate.

"Chakra usage was not a natural part of our physic, hundreds of years ago. Through usage of the natural energy of the world, a line of chakra users formed. All of us here are descendants of those users, practically everyone in the village is. But there are still many civilians without accessible reserves, for though chakra makes up a part of every being, the only reserves they have are just enough for them to be alive.

"Let me leave you all with a warning. Chakra is powerful and can be used for many things, but as with anything powerful there is a tradeoff. Before you can risk any Chakra manipulation of your own to create your own jutsus, you must hone your familiarity with your own chakra. For you see-" Iruka turned around and motioned to the poster once more. He waved his hands around, motioning something rising from the stomach of the man on the poster as Iruka's lips were turned away, preventing Naruto from hearing what was being said. He turned back "-if one is not familiar with their chakra limitations. You must practice using all available safety methods, such as using hand seals when first trying out a jutsu. Otherwise, your Chakra will backfire, and in some cases cause irreparable damage to your Chakra pathways."

Iruka glanced around to take in all of his students: most seemed to pay attention, though there were a few with their face down on the desk. He clasped his hands together, the resounding clap making those few students who appeared to be sleeping jolt. Iruka smirked lightly as he began addressing everyone, "That's all I have for this lesson today. I usually don't finish this early, but you guys can take a break until lunch, but you're not allowed to leave this classroom until then!"

Most students turned to each other and began talking, one or two got up to walk around, and the few who were caught sleeping laid their heads down and went back to sleep. Naruto took in these students. He had no friends to talk to, and he was perfectly awake. There was nothing else he could focus on but his own hunger to learn more. With that thought, he opened his mouth to yell, "Teach us a jutsu!"

Other kids who heard quickly picked up his call. Every kid wanted to learn a jutsu for their flashy and powerful appearance. They didn't know why, but they knew with absolute certainty that knowing jutsus would make them cool amongst their peers.

After a few minutes of being bombarded with requests, Iruka finally gave in. "Alright, alright, fine." Because really, what harm would there be in teaching them a low ranked jutsu? Those who couldn't draw on chakra couldn't practice it, and those who could have parents to help teach them. "But this is a onetime offer. Any jutsus you will learn the rest of the year will only be because they are specifically in the curriculum."

There was a resounding cheer as the students had accomplished their task.

"This jutsu that I am about to teach you is perhaps the lowest ranked. It is the first, and easiest jutsu to learn. It would've been taught to you all three weeks from now, but since you insisted…

"However, I must stress that while you can practice the hand signs, I highly recommend that you not try it out, and if you do only do so with adult supervision. If you practice and manage to bring out chakra and practice the technique too much, you are at risk of Chakra depletion. You will get tired before there are any other ill effects, so you must stop immediately.

"This jutsu is known as Henge. It is a deception technique that changes one's appearance to whatever they want. The larger the appearance, the more chakra used. Now there are three seals: dog, boar, and tiger. To properly activate the technique, you must bring your Chakra around your body and form the seals. When the seals change your chakra, hold it underneath your skin." Iruka brought his hands up and began preforming the technique. As he moved through the seals, a disturbance in the air around Iruka became visible to Naruto. Iruka began to speak again, but his hands covered his mouth.

There was a puff of smoke, completely enveloping Iruka. The students gasped as the cloud dissipated, for Iruka was no longer there and in his place was the Third Hokage. "There are other extensions to this jutsu but they are classified as separate jutsus." The 'Third' spoke out, his voice mimicking the Hokage's exactly. "By holding an image in your mind of what you would like your appearance to be when performing the jutsu you can become what you imagine." Iruka released the henge, a lot less smoke emerging from his form as the chakra fled from its position around his body. "Now go to lunch!"

Like water running off a cliff, the children poured down from the bleachers and zoomed through the door, heading outside as the academy bell struck. An aura of excitement buzzed around the students as they thought on what their teacher had taught them.

The children rushed to their parents waiting past the academy steps, smiling and cheering as they eagerly proceeded to dump all that they learned on their parents. The parents only caught a few words here and there, but they smiled and nodded, just happy because their child was happy. Large smiles formed on all faces, and love emanated from the peaceful scene.

o.0.O.0.o

Naruto watched as happiness settled on those in the courtyard, washing over the group like a wave and rushing past, ignoring him as he sat alone on the academy steps. For the first time in a long while, Naruto wondered who his parents were. He didn't just question their names, he wanted to know exactly who they were, what they were like, what made them… them. There was only one other time he questioned this, when he first learned exactly what a parent was from the Third when he was four.

He had heard other kids talking in the orphanage, pointing to other orphans and guessing how possible it would be for them to get adopted by parents. One had pointed to him and guessed 'Never'. Naruto had cried even though he didn't know exactly what the insult meant, and had rushed to the Third who had come for his weekly inspection of the orphanage. At his account of what happened, the Hokage had gently picked him up and described to him just exactly what a parent was.

That was the first time Naruto learned that his heart could know pain.

Now, as Naruto stared out at the happiness shared amongst these families, the pain returned once more. The blond gritted his teeth, clenching his shirt above the heart and questioned to himself 'Why does it hurt so much?' But he knew that he wouldn't get an answer. He'd never get an answer.

He didn't question why his cheeks were wet.

Needing to focus on something else, Naruto decided that he would head out into the forest once again. He walked with his head bent low, ignoring the looks the residents were sure to pass his way, ignoring the words that he might have otherwise seen passing their lips. He passed the gates soon enough, and before he knew it he was back in the clearing he had been the night before.

It was the perfect place to train. It was secluded and far from any judgmental eyes. It was quite here he knew from the time he had come here before the accident, so there wouldn't be as many sounds for him to miss.

Nothing had been disturbed from this morning, the only things marking the presence of a human were his own footprints in the mud. Naruto doubted anyone would disturb this place.

Naruto sat on the tree root that had acted as a bed for him, evening his breathing and thinking upon Iruka's lesson. The first stage to forming a jutsu would be to gather Chakra, and the only way to do that would be to meditate. He groaned inwardly, he hated sitting still.

Resting his hands on his knees, Naruto steadied his breathing and calmed himself. He focused on breathing inward, holding his breath for a few seconds before releasing it. He crossed his legs to get in a more comfortable position, and focused his attention inward.

He didn't know how to access Chakra, and even if he managed to sense it he didn't know if he would recognize it for what it was.

Naruto only focused on his breathing pattern, leaving the rest of his thoughts blank, centering himself. Several minutes passed, and so far Naruto only just managed to remove any irritation. Then, he felt something stir. Startled, Naruto jolted and the feeling was gone. But now he had felt it, and he knew he could access it. He tried once again.

This time when it stirred, Naruto grabbed onto the feeling with all his might. For a brief second he thought it would elude him, but then the feeling was no longer his mental representation but the actual thing, grasped in his power, and he was pulling it out and out. Although where he was pulling it out to he didn't know.

The Chakra felt like cotton as he pulled it through his self, it seemed to fill him as he continued yanking it. Instead of the movement he expected to feel, pulling out his chakra only seemed to strengthen the presence of chakra in his body.

Opening his eyes, now sure that he wouldn't lose the Chakra again, Naruto saw his body covered in a faint blue glow. He jumped up and down as his eyes lit up in excitement, yelling "Yatta!" for the world to hear.

After his brief enthusiasm wore off, he stopped to glance at the notes he had written for himself. He practiced the hand seals: dog, boar, and tiger. Again: dog, boar and tiger. And again. He took note of how his hands were shaped, and adjusted them so that they were mimicking exactly what he saw Iruka do. Dog, boar, and tiger.

Then, he felt like he was ready.

Naruto centered himself once more, this time feeling his Chakra stir much more quickly and drawing it out just as quick. He held the chakra over his skin and began making the seals. Dog, boar, and tiger. He felt the change in his Chakra instantly, and brought it under his skin. He didn't know when, or even if he should let it go, he had missed what Iruka had said on the subject. But he did know that he had to picture what he wished to look like.

In his mind he formed the image of a boy with straight, neck length silver hair, aqua eyes, and an average sized teenager body that had obviously been working out. A clean white shirt, baggy black pants, and plain sandals completed the ensemble.

The image was of a fighter, Rei, who was a hero in one of the comic books Naruto had glanced at when passing a book store. It was the first thing that had come to mind, for Naruto knew that the hero in any situation would always be adored.

As the image formed in his mind, Naruto felt his chakra move without his doing, trying to force itself to escape his body. Naruto held it back with all of his willpower, but even then some managed to escape. Surprisingly though the Chakra didn't disappear, rather it just seemed settled on his clothes.

When nothing seemed to be changing, Naruto added more chakra, trying to speed up the process. It apparently worked, but he must have used too much chakra, for his mind darkened just as he felt his limbs and skin stretch outward.

o.0.O.0.o

Upon coming conscious, Naruto immediately noticed three things. The first was that it was night, the second, he was hungry, and the third, he felt bigger. The sky was black and stars poked through the canopy, moonlight providing the only useful light source to see by. As he stood, Naruto's mind registered that he was taller than before, and he quickly questioned why.

Looking down at himself, Naruto felt his eyes widened. His body was no longer Naruto, but Rei. It had to be, for his skin was paler, and even his clothes had changed. Naruto felt the back of his head and grabbed hair longer than it should have been with his right hand, and his eyes (which had to be aqua blue) widened.

He ran to the small river that surrounded Konoha, being briefly surprised by his improved speed, and looked down at his reflection. Rei looked back.

Naruto brought a hand up and touched his face, this illusion was real, he was real.

His stomach reacquainted him with his hunger.

Naruto glanced back at the village, leaving his reflection behind. He jumped away from the river only to be astounded at how high he traveled. It wasn't only his appearance that had changed, he had gotten stronger as well!

Wanting to test his new limits, Naruto coiled his legs before pushing off the ground, traveling far higher and farther than he had thought possible, as if he had grown wings. In that one leap he had already cleared thirty feet away from the river.

Naruto then sprang straight up, wanting to see how high he could go, aiming for a branch above him. At the pinnacle of his jump, he grabbed onto the tree branch and dangled there, looking at the ground below. 'Awesome!'

Then fatigue hit like an earthen jutsu. 'I can't wait… to tell, Iruka-sensei.' His eyes drooped, his fingers loosened, and his grip started to slip. His eyes were closed when his hand fell away, and his consciousness was too long gone to detect the pain by the time he hit the ground.

o.0.O.0.o

Water incased him like a warm blanket. He heard drips of water around him, his mind not even questioning the presence of the sound. Darkness was everywhere.

He felt gravity above him, pulling at his head, and instinct kicked in. He pushed himself around in the water, kicking himself in the other direction to head upwards. As his head passed the surface he gasped, his lungs so numb it felt as if he had not taken a breath in a long, long time.

He put his hand down on the water, and was surprised when the watery darkness repelled it. Testing with his other hand found that this principal applied to it as well. He tried to arise, and found that the surface of the liquid repelled him completely, not allowing him to enter again. As he stood in disbelief of his predicament, warm air settled on him and only then did he realize how icy the waters grasp actually was. The warmth that he had felt when in the water had only been deceptive.

Darkness seemed to cover him from all sides, but as he looked something appeared out in the distance. A small entryway, with tiled walls, ceiling and floors appeared not far in front of him, lit with a light source unseen.

As seconds turned into minutes, Naruto realized he had greatly misjudged the distance between him and the entryway. He began running in a full sprint, and after a few minutes without exhaustion arrived at the hallway.

The entrance was nearly fifteen feet across. Coming down from the darkness above into the light were different colored pipes of various sizes. Some were thin and painted a light blue, others were slightly bigger and painted a blue as deep as the ocean, while the largest ones appeared a violent red. The pipes emerged from the ceiling to submerge again, only to reemerge several feet down the hallway, twisting and turning and hanging without any visible supports like an unorthodox ornament. Stones made up the walls and floor, each stone shaped differently and colored a slightly different hue of brown. Some stones were rough, some were smooth, others sharp, but they all seemed to mesh together despite their variety. There was also water here, but it took the form of murky puddles dotted here and there, and Naruto knew instinctively that this water did not hold the dangers of the dark water behind him.

Naruto glanced back behind him, but nothing was visible, for the darkness seemed to eat any light emitting from the hallway. He turned back to look down the hallway with no visible end, and he started to walk.

Immediately he felt his body temperature rise.

As Naruto walked, he started to pass doors of different variety that dotted the walls at times with different levels of frequency. Some were made of wood, others stone or iron. Some seemed to have locks, others none, and some were barred so thoroughly that there was a lock, a bar, and iron chains locked around them. After his first few tries and failures to open different doors, he decided that what he needed was down at the end of the hallway, not through any other passageway.

After what felt like hours, for time seemed to run differently here, Naruto stumbled upon the end. He could see a large wall yards in front of him blocking any further passage, but he also spotted something else.

As he drew nearer, deep vibrations hummed through the ground and through the soles of his feet, up his legs and spine, and settled to vibrate his brain. As he drew nearer step by step, the sensation grew stronger. Soon, he could see a hazy cloud of the purest blue, so bright it appeared white in its center. As he drew nearer to the haze, he could see something moving in its depths, surfing its flow, but he could not make out what it was exactly.

Then the vibrations were strong enough to rattle the teeth in his clenched jaw. His breathing became labored, and his heart spiked in acceleration. His body moved faster on its own, his mind only relaying to him the desperate need to be where the light was.

Then he was there, surrounded by this haze, this light. Everything was now white. His body stopped completely, as if somebody had thrown the switch, his body waited for the final release.

Then he saw the form of a dragon outlined from the white light in blue, what he had spotted before moving in the light. It flew around him, dancing and humming with the light. And then it faced him, blinking its black eyes once, before rushing towards him. Naruto panicked, wanting to move, but his body did not obey him.

As it drew nearer, it appeared to Naruto as if the dragon's eyes were sad. And then it flew through him.

o.0.O.0.o

"Hokage-sama."

Sitting on a hospital bench just outside the emergency ward, Sarutobi stood as a nurse called for his attention. Only one question was on the forefront of his mind "How is he?"

Earlier that evening, he had received news of Naruto. Apparently a chunin on patrol, making his rounds around the village wall had spotted Naruto on the ground, head at an awkward angle and body as cold as death. He had thought him dead and brought him to the hospital for autopsy. But as the surgeon had started to observe him, a miracle happened.

Naruto's heart had begun to beat.

The surgeons immediately set to work on saving the boy, not wasting a minute in surprise as a life hung in the balance. The Hokage, who had been sent for before, had been informed of the miracle and he resolved to stay in the hospital until Naruto was either saved, or declared dead.

"All his documented injuries are as follows: His neck is broken at vertebrae C6, ribs 2, 3, and 4 on his right side are broken, ribs 2 and 3 piercing the right lung. The right side of his pelvis bone is all but shattered, and his heart tissue is ripped from over exertion."

The Hokage sucked in a sharp breath, hardly believing the extent of the boy's injuries. He thought he had been told that Naruto was alive.

The nurse smiled and guessed correctly what the Hokage was thinking. "But he's alive. Despite how far gone he really should be, he's alive." She repeated, as if she couldn't believe it herself. "This is beyond a miracle. Medically, he would have been declared dead. He technically was dead when the chunin found him, for his heart wasn't beating, his neck snapped, and his blood had run cold.

"Then how could he have possibly survived?" The Hokage asked incredulously. In his field he had seen many close calls throughout his life, but this… No one should have survived from this! "No offence towards you or your co-workers, but I had been lead to believe that we didn't have that type of capability amongst our medics."

The nurse's eyes turned wistful. "But that's the thing, we didn't do anything."

"Then how?"

"As the medic was going over the autopsy, there was a surge of Chakra. It was not the type of Chakra commonly found in humans, but it certainly wasn't the beast's Chakra as well. It was much, much different. If I could put a word to it, I'd describe it as almost… angelic, I'd say." Inside her eyes, the spark of hunger grew brighter. "It emerged from Naruto's Chakra coils in his stomach and wrapped around his injured body. It went into his heart and forcibly moved it, something that would have been quite painful if the boy's nervous system was active to feel it. But it did the trick. It has now enveloped the other damaged areas and has been repairing them as we speak.

"Hokage-sama, I am not sure if this was a gift sent by the gods, but it appears as if the boy is invincible, if not practically impossible to kill."

The Hokage scoffed at the word invincible, but he could understand the awe behind it, as it mirrored his own. "An invincible boy? Impossible, but perhaps something close to it. Are there any guesses as to where the Chakra came from?"

"Nothing has been confirmed as of yet. However, we have run a DNA dating of the 'angelic' Chakra coils, and they are not a natural part of the boy's physic. It seems to have been put there exactly around the time the Kyuubi's Chakra was stored. As we probed further, we found that the chakra regenerates itself, but cannot increase in quantity over how much it already occupies. It seems to only wish to take up a certain amount –and a small one at that- of the boy's soul, nothing more, nothing less. It is the direct opposite nature of the Kyuubi's Chakra, which continually tries to take over the boy by forcing a tidal wave of chakra through his coils.

"We have also found that the Chakra and the Kyuubi's Chakra act as two opposing forces. Though the Kyuubi's Chakra is more plentiful, the potency of the 'angelic' Chakra matches his blow for blow. The two Chakras are continually fighting against each other. This force would tear the boy apart, if it were not for the boy's own Chakra. His Chakra acts as a muffle between the two. However, in order to do so, his Chakra must be more potent than both Chakras combined to make an effective wall. Since his chakra was facing this problem since birth, it has effectively evolved to meet the challenge."

The nurse's eyes seemed to light up even brighter, "Hokage-sama, if we could just study this Chakra, think of how many lives we could save. We have to-"

"No." The Hokage interrupted, he would not have the medics go down that path even when considering the benefits. "It would be wise not to tamper in things beyond our understanding. After all, it already cost us the Kyuubi."

The nurse sighed, resigned. "Understood, Hokage-sama."

"Good. Now, what will be the long term damage of his injuries?"

"As far as we can tell, none." Despite the time she had been given to get used to it, the idea still rang a notable note of surprise in her voice. "The damage to his heart had practically healed when I left, and already it was past what we expected. With so much repaired, we can only deduce that his other injuries will heal just as fully. His mind had not deteriorated at a fast rate, so most, if not all cognitive abilities should remain intact."

The Third sagged with relief. "I am pleased to hear this. Do you know what happened to put Naruto in such a condition?"

"The chunin found him a little less than a mile away from the east gate. There were a few leaves and twigs, and some broken branches above him that indicated that Naruto had fallen from a great height, hitting the solid roots below. We do not know how he got up there, but his injuries most likely resulted from an accident, not someone's ill intent."

'We'll see about that.' The Hokage was understandably doubtful. When it came to Naruto, it was never absurd to suspect ill intent, for most all his recorded injuries had been from the intent of others, not from any accident. "Thank you." Sarutobi addressed the nurse, before sitting back down on the bench as the nurse left; it had been a long day.

What had happened to the ANBU he had assigned to watch Naruto? "Rat!" The Hokage called out.

Immediately hopping through the windows, a ninja dressed in all black stood right in front, a white mask with red markings to depict a rodent hid his face as a hood hid the rest of his hair and skin. He bowed to one knee and ducked his head, "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I need you to find Bird. She is to meet me in my office immediately. If she does not arrive within fifteen minutes, she will instead come with her resignation… that is if she still wants to be a part of this village."

"Hai." The shadow seemed to stream back out the window, disappearing into the darkness.

'I'll find out who is behind this.' Thought the Hokage, 'I'm so sorry, Naruto.'

o.0.O.0.o

Inside the emergency room, where frantic doctors were observing, healing, and recording their findings excitedly, Naruto slept. In his mind a white dragon, outlined in blue sparked with yellow electricity. The dragon swirled around him, whispering things in his ears, phrases that Naruto could not make out, no matter how hard he tried. The words sounded as if they formed directions, but to what he had no idea. Whatever it was, it sounded important.

However, one word jumped out at him, one that made his breath catch in his throat and his face pale. But no matter how hard he concentrated, he could never make out another word. Only one was revealed to him, just one…

'Son.'

o.0.O.0.o

So, how do you like the turn of events? Should I have the yondaime survive, or should I just have a message for Naruto? I do want him to find out about his heritage though. So, tell me what you think!

Translations:

Gomen nasai: Sorry

Hai: Yes

Hebi: Snake

Tora: Tiger

Saru: Monkey

Oushi: Ox