I am -so- sorry this took so long. But. My laptop fan died so the whole thing was out of commission. i went into serious withdrawal for a while.

Apparently some of the words I used in this chapter aren't actually words. Like 'unintroduced'. I'm choosing to not believe that so I left it. Meh. What are you gonna do? It makes sense to me.

Anyway, Chapter 16 ^_^ Enjoy!

P.S: I saw a guy in the bus exchange in Christchurch sitting like L a couple of days ago. I laughed cos he was old. Thought I might share that ;)

The boy couldn't imagine anything stranger than what was happening right now. Not in this moment exactly. Just this situation as a whole. Nothing could be stranger than waking up and having no idea where or who he was.

The people who all looked at him, Uzumaki Naruto, so familiarly that it hurt a little were the worst part. The most confusing part.

Iruka san. A teacher. His teacher apparently. Someone with safe warmth and a brave smile. But Naruto couldn't see it; that bond that he was told they had.

Did it hurt? Was he hurting someone so gentle? Someone whose hand on his shoulder was tender and reassuring. His safe harbor since he had woken.

Kakashi san. One of the top ninja in the village. A... jounin? The tall guy who smiled kindly at him; a soft, easy air about him. Was Naruto hurting him too? This man who was all casual comments and vague humour. How close had they been? The ninja didn't seem to want to get too close. Hesitance? Or normal behaviour?

Was he hurting them? Naruto couldn't tell. He had just met them. He didn't know them. But they knew him.

And then there was Haruno Sakura; Haruno san. Cute, with her pretty pink hair and sea foam green eyes. She was really something.

Her face when she had come to visit. When she first entered her expression was relaxed enough, only small traces of apprehension as she smiled the tiniest bit. And then Naruto had spoken and something just in the words seemed to break her. Naruto had no idea what was going through her mind but he watched the emotions strike and wound her. Even as she tried to hide it. He didn't look at her much, out of guilt. He had definitely hurt her. She had cried when it had become too much but it hadn't hurt him to see her tears. They were friends and he felt nothing more than a niggling confusion and a sodden guilt on his shoulders towards her tears. How horrible of him.

And then.

Uchiha Sasuke... He was a mystery. When he walked in and lifted his face Naruto's heart had stopped. He was so cold, so blank, and so incredibly beautiful. His narrow, charcoal eyes had raised and locked with the cobalt blue ones across the room for a split second and all Naruto could do was smile dumbly. But what a feeling. Deep inside. A rush. More than he had felt from anyone else. With Kakashi and Iruka no emotion had been provoked in him without being told who they were to him. But with this boy... It was hard to explain what was happening, but the fact that Naruto could feel by himself had smacked him in the chest, leaving him breathless. He knew nothing about what their bond was like but he wanted to. Desperation had risen in his chest, gripping him so tightly he couldn't move. A gasp brushed the inside of his smiling lips and a hot orange-tinged itch teased at the back of his mind as Naruto tried to reach for anything about this boy. A voice, a smile, a laugh, a line. Anything. Just a tiny detail before someone ruined it and told him who they were together. But there was nothing to grab at. He had no idea who he was.

"...Uchiha Sasuke."

The strange flutter that tingled the blonde's body disappeared.

He would never know now. He would have to wait to be told what he felt for this boy in front of him. He wasn't allowed to figure it out by himself because he was a baby now. With no memories, no feelings, no bonds to cling to. In that one moment... Goodbye. Goodbye to the one free feeling since he had awoken. Goodbye to the rush and dizziness that he couldn't place. Goodbye to the boy with the deep eyes and dark hair, the perfect, straight line mouth. Goodbye to any words that could really reach him from those lips. Goodbye to Uchiha Sasuke and any right to call him by his first name.

'Uchiha san' felt wrong and tasted stale and sour when it rolled on his tongue. But he couldn't call him anything else now because as soon as he had learnt the name, the emotion was gone and Uchiha Sasuke became another soul he had to relearn. Another person he didn't know.

It wasn't possible to know him without a name. To carry on without a name. But all the same. The name took the first feeling. And somehow that didn't sit right with the blonde. Somehow. No feeling, was wrong. He had wanted so much to hold onto that one feeling. But it was impossible to know the boy without his name.

Naruto stood in front of the mirror in the hospital room's little bathroom watching the boy in the mirror.

A round face with soft curves, wild blonde hair, clear summer sky blue eyes. He lifted his hands and jumped when the boy did the same. They touched their cheeks together, tracing the thin lines the stretched across them. The skin beneath his fingertips was warm and smooth. What was with this face? Whiskers? How weird. Blinking slowly Naruto stepped a little closer. What was this face meant for? He pulled his eyebrows together and frowned. It looked a bit off on the boy glaring back. Not made for frowning? He didn't feel like he was a serious person. So far, smiles had felt the most natural expression for him. He grinned at the face in the glass. It felt good and comfortable. He must be a smiley person.

"A smile suits you best," said a voice behind Naruto. Iruka appeared in the mirror behind him, standing close to him so that he could feel his breath in his hair. He said nothing and watched Iruka watching him. Suddenly he felt very lonely, even when the man was so near. Who was he? Who did everyone expect him to be? They all knew so much more about his character than he did. It made his stomach churn. The feeling must have shown on his face because Iruka lifted his hand and settled it on his shoulder.

"I know its scary now. I know it's hard. But it'll get better. I promise," he said softly and curled his lips into a sad, lopsided smile.

"We want to give you a look over now." His hand shifted to his back and gave him a gentle push.

"Come this way, Naruto."

That name still sounded weird.

When Naruto entered the room there was another person in the room. An old man in long white and red robes with a wide brimmed 'hat'. Great. Another one. Someone else's name to add to the list. Naruto waited but no one said anything about the new man's presence. Didn't anyone feel the need to tell him who these people were and what was going on? It was mildly frustrating to the blonde. But he was too scared to say anything and tried not to show it in his blank expression because there was something about the two nameless people; the blonde woman and the old man, and the way held themselves that made them seem unquestionable. A distinct look of superiority about them. The man's sort of kindly, the woman's slightly cooler with a sharp edge to her despite her beauty.

The woman beckoned him forward, sighing loudly. Naruto stepped forward nervously and she lowered herself onto her haunches to look up at him. Slowly, she slipped her hand to the waistband of his pajama pants and lifted his shirt. He shivered but it was ok because she was a doctor. Probably. No one had actually properly introduced her. She frowned at his exposed stomach and Naruto dipped his chin to look too.

"Woah! What is that!" His blue eyes widened as they locked onto the large spiral that dominated most of his abdomen.

"What! What! A tattoo?" Naruto stepped away from the woman, bending over further to get a better look, his fingers scurrying the shirt higher and higher up his body until it was bunched around his chin, in case there were any other surprises he should know about his own body. There was nothing. The sunny skin was flawless; unmarred and perfect. Naruto lowered his eyes back to the mark, trailing his eyes over the bumps and faint outlines of his hardened stomach muscles beneath it. It was amazing; this thing that he couldn't remember getting. A vivid red, mess of a twirly tattoo. Had it hurt when he got it? Why was it of interest to the medic? Either way, it was pretty cool looking. The boy whistled as he breathed in, straining his neck this way and that to get a better look at the little squiggles scattered around the outer ring of the swirl.

"What is this thing? When did I get this?" Naruto asked, not taking his eyes of it. It was rather mesmerizing really, making him dizzy. The lady doctor hissed a little in frustration and reached for him, steering him back by his hips to stand in front of her; ignoring his question.

"No scar tissue, everything seems to have healed and it seems to be under control again. The colour is brighter now because of when it 'healed' right?"

Naruto frowned. He had been hurt? That would explain the hospital, but what on earth was 'it'? And why had she said "healed" like that wasn't really what had happened?

"Honestly Sensei. You really should have called me earlier," complained the woman, rising to her full height, not addressing her patient at all as she turned to the old man. A small, almost nervous chuckle sounded from the red and white robed figure and he lifted his head and smiled. Naruto wished someone would tell him who they were.

"Well, no one really knew about it until it happened. We we're all very unprepared and besides-" began the old man but was cut off when a new voice finished the sentence.

"-You were a little way out and a tad hard to find, Tsunade." Every pair of eyes turned and Naruto closed his eyes against the desire to sigh as a new character made his presence known.

A man, young or old; Naruto couldn't tell, with masses of long white hair growing in unruly thick spikes, crouched easily in the window frame, a cheeky, boyish grin in full bloom lighting his face.

"Jiraiya," replied the woman; 'Tsunade', evenly although Naruto noticed a new expression on her face that he assumed was masked surprise.

"I didn't know you were still around Jiraiya," said the old man in a comfortable tone, unconsciously moving to close off everyone else in the room from the conversation. Obviously these three were connected. To the side, Iruka and Kakashi watched on quietly. Kakashi hadn't said anything the whole time. Was he hurting? Again?

"Come on Tsunade, you were nowhere near Konoha so don't be complaining that you weren't called in earlier on the case," laughed Jiraiya, smiling widely at the woman and bending his head to her a little, turning his face to see her expression from his perch as she whipped her head to the side and pouted; a childish action that was odd for someone with such a serious, stern air to her.
"Naruto seems fine." Tsunade said, ignoring Jiraiya's comment and addressing Naruto by his first name.

Everyone did that...

"I'm about done here, Sensei," she said to the old man.

'Sensei'.

The old man was a teacher of some kind and the woman was clearly his student by the way she had addressed him. What was the other man? He was older than the women no doubt, but then again… Apparently this was a ninja village; Konoha. Naruto didn't know anything about what being a ninja meant. Maybe it could alter your age or something. They were definitely intimately connected. More than mere acquaintances.

Teacher, student, student. That's what Naruto was guessing. All ninja, he decided by the odd attire of the men; just like Kakashi san.

"What are you even doing here still, you dirty pervert?"

"Come now, come now, let's not be snappy. We can talk over dinner?"

"Not a chance."

Laugh.
Sigh.

Hmmpft.

Naruto was marvelling at the teenage antics of the group when Jiraiya spoke again, getting back to the original question questioning his presence.

"Well I was in the neighbourhood, and after my little mission to find Tsunade, I decided to stick around a little and see how it went with the kid." With that line he fixed his eyes on Naruto and for the first time, someone acknowledged he was in the room. Naruto felt himself redden a touch when the woman turned to him, stared for a moment and then looked back to Jiraiya as he leapt through the window and landed with a loud clack on the lino floor in his wooden geta. He was the tallest in the room when he stood straight, towering over Tsunade, a good head over Kakashi and Iruka.

Without warning, Jiraiya dropped down just like Tsunade and flipped up Naruto's shirt and spread his large palm over Naruto's stomach. Naruto yelped quietly at the heat from his hand.

"It seems alright," said Jiraiya casually and flicked his small eyes up to Naruto's face.

"How are you, Kid?" he asked. Naruto pressed his lips in a thin line. Everyone was just touching him on their own. He stepped back. Who was this guy? Neither Kakashi and Iruka appeared to respond to him with the ease that the oldest man and Tsunade had.

"I'm fine, I guess," he replied slowly. Iruka walked forward to stand next to him. Naruto turned his head to acknowledge him; he had picked up that Iruka liked that. Obviously they had been quite close and the space around the teacher was always warm and somewhat comforting. Well, as comforting as Naruto had felt so far.

At that moment, a silver glint caught Naruto's eye. He took three quick strides to the bed and closed his fist around the silver plate, eyes roaming the metal gently and slowly and slipping onto the blue material, gazing into the part folds of the slightly rumpled band. Everyone was watching him. There was a tense atmosphere. A thumb dipped into the end of the carved out symbol and followed it all the way to the centre. A leaf maybe? 'Konoha' meant leaf. What was this thing? Should he ask? Would the cool tingle of the metal disappear if he did? Probably. It was so impossible. Everything and everyone he felt for... The emotion disappeared too quickly. But he couldn't just stand and wonder forever.

"What is this?" he whispered. It almost sounded accusing. Like something was being kept from him. Although, what wasn't being kept from him? Everything except what had entered the hospital was being kept from him. But this was different.

No one answered.

Naruto looked up, putting on his best innocent curious face that wasn't actually that good because he hadn't had to use it much. Apart from when Uchiha Sasuke walked in.

"What is this?" he asked again. Lighter tone this time. That seemed to work. The people unhinged their shoulders from around their ears and Iruka smiled awkwardly. Sadly. Painfully. All of them in one.

"It's a forehead protector. All the ninja in the village wear them," he replied softly. Naruto gulped. All the ninja?

"Is it... mine?"

"..."

"Yes." It was the old man, still unintroduced, who answered.

"Hokage sama?" Iruka called him unsurely, his voice full of questions that could apparently be conveyed by only the name.

'Hokage'. This had been explained at some point.

Genin, Chuunin, Jounin, Hokage. That was right. The top ninja. The leader. Naruto stood up a little straighter as the man spoke.

"You were a ninja of this village. We can't hide that from you. Everyone knew you. But now. Its impossible." The man's voice was stern. Naruto's eyes widened.

Him... A ninja? It was incomprehensible. But with this new life. This life with no memories. Anything was possible. He didn't know himself, his home, his 'friends', his past, his future. Who was he? Who was Uzumaki Naruto and who had he been. A well known ninja? Well known for what? Skill? Was he the best? Lack of skill? Was he just some screw up? What kind of ninja had he been?

The voice inside sounded desperate. But really...

What did it matter now...? It was...

"Impossible?" he voiced; the end of the word curving into a question without him meaning it too.

"Yes." A new speaker. Tsunade. Naruto turned to her. She was looking at him straight to centre. She had such a strong gaze. He got the impression she also had a very strong kind of character. Behind her professional, doctor face she had fire. It showed in her raw umber eyes; a darker shade to match the seriousness of her tone.

"With the way your body is, it is true that out of pure natural instinct you may be able to avoid an average-strength taijutsu attack. Even if your mind doesn't recall, your body was still trained and your reflexes should still be above average since they are something you do without actual conscious thought process. You may even be able to tell the difference between a genjutsu; illusion, and reality, just because it feels wrong to you; but you could never release it or turn the situation around without restarting completely as a ninja, which would be a waste of everyone's time. Therefore, impossible."

Report complete. That was that. Tsunade left no room for uncertainty, queries, doubts.

Naruto had the feeling he should have felt some sort of loss toward the blunt way his question had been responded to. But he didn't, even though he was sure the forehead protector meant something. He looked around and stopped at Kakashi and Iruka. For the first time he realized they too were wearing forehead protectors with the leaf symbol on them; Iruka's straight on and Kakashi's slumped over one of his eyes. They glinted in the sun coming through the far window where Jiraiya had crouched. Something special. Maybe.

Naruto looked down, urging himself to try and form a tie to the object in his palm. He turned it over in hands, fingering the tiny scratches in the shiny metal, the subtly ragged edges at the ends of the band where it had been knotted. There was no feeling. But a want to have one.

"Can I keep it?" he asked quietly. Summer sky eyes raised and watched through light eyelashes. Waiting.

"You're not a ninja anymore. So no. Impossible," replied Tsunade, a hint of sadness in her voice that followed through into everyone's eyes as they watched him absorb the new information.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows into a sadden frown with no emotion behind it. It had disappeared too, just as he had predicted. Right after she said:
"Impossible."