"Talking"

Thinking

I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 14: Silence

The hospital would have been in panic. That is, it would have been in panic if they knew of Naruto's presence within the hospital.

"What's wrong with him?" Hinata asked again from the corner of the room. However, only Ino heard her.

"I don't know, but they're making a big fit of it…" she mumbled while her eyes scanned what Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura were busily trying to accomplish. She glanced up at the monitors. Although she had nearly no idea what half of it meant, all of the screens were basically saying that something bad had just happened.

"Will he be okay?" the Hyuuga asked again. Her eyes were nervously scanning the room over and over again. Ino smiled gently but she had no idea. She wasn't as trained as a medic, and she didn't even have a job at the hospital. Hinata should've had a better grasp on what was happening than she did.

After what seemed like an eternity to Hinata, all three medics finally stood back a few feet from the bed. Tsunade turned around and forced a smile to her face. "He should be fine. His body was probably just reacting violently to being in one spot for so long," she joked. Tsunade managed to get to a nearby sink and wash off her hands.

"Will he be okay?" Hinata asked after a few moments of consuming silence.

"Sadly, Hinata, we can't be sure," Tsunade told her. "Not to mention very few people come out of a coma, much less with the same intelligence or motor skills they had before. Like I told all of you before, all we can is wait and hope for the best."

The room was engulfed now in an awkward silence, save the sounds the machines made as they performed their jobs. Tsunade could tell that she didn't need to stay in the room so she quietly took off her gloves and walked out of the room. Shizune followed suit and shut the door behind her so the other girls would not be disturbed.

Hinata turned to the door and mumbled something about a patient before walking out of the door. Ino stated that she needed to get back to the flower shop and left only a moment later than Hinata. Sakura stayed in the room, but hung her head in silence. After a few minutes she sighed heavily and walked out.

"Do you feel better?" the Yondaime asked through the darkness.

Naruto mentally checked himself over. The pain wasn't nearly as bad, but it was still present. Heat had returned to the core of his body and he was grateful. He couldn't stand being cold. Why else would he always wear that sweat suit in Konoha? He nodded his head slowly but then remembered that the Yondaime probably couldn't see either. "Y-yeah," he answered. Why does he care so much? The question had been circulating in his mind for the past few minutes but Naruto still could not find an answer.

"That's a relief!" The Yondaime said with a joyful sigh. He flashed a smile even though he knew that Naruto wouldn't be able to see. "I had no idea what was wrong. I hope your mom isn't too worried about you," he laughed. "She'll probably scold me when I show back up in Konoha."

Naruto fought not to laugh at the man. "My mother? I've been an orphan all my life, I don't know her." His voice sounded cold but he didn't care. He meant for it to sound that way.

After a few moments of stunned silence, the Yondaime muttered a 'what?' and then silence reigned in the darkness yet again.

"I've never known either of my parents."

"But she was…" Yondaime had stopped paying attention and was now trying to figure out what had happened. When Naruto had been born, he had to run out of the house in a hurry. He had been trying to save the village, after all. He fought to remember exactly what happened. "They told me she was fine…" he muttered while the memory slowly resurfaced.

A small child was cradled in his arms. They were both crying, maybe even for the same reason.

"I've already told them what to do after I'm gone," he attempted to soothe the child. It didn't work. "Kushina did tell me I'd never be a good father," he laughed lightly. A loud explosion rocked the earth under his feet and at least a dozen other yells could be heard through the noises of battle.

The Yellow Flash pushed himself to his limit and got to his destination quicker than expected. "Yondaime-sama!" someone yelled out.

"Sensei!" Yondaime looked over to see Kakashi running over to him speedily.

"Kakashi, don't worry about me. Go and make sure Kushina is doing fine!" he yelled before running, yet again, to where he could face the demon for the last time. He knew he would only have another moment or two with his son. "Naruto, you'll be considered a hero for this. Harboring the demon within you is the best that anyone could ever do for the village. Don't let anyone ever tell you different." His attention was drawn to the large fox that was glaring in his direction.

In the battle field, all Konoha ninja had been ordered to leave so they would not become a distraction or get in the way for the next tactic. Minato looked down into his son's face and saw two dark blue orbs staring back at him. A smile covered both of their faces before Minato finally performed the jutsu that would both end his life and any chance of a normal life for his son.

Minato was hanging on to his life just to make sure that both his son and wife were still alive. His son was obviously still alive since he was yelling and crying as any infant would. A weak smile came to Minato's face and he turned his head ever so slightly as someone familiar ran up to him.

"Sensei!" Kakashi yelled out in a panic. "A hospital! We have to get you there!" he yelled while trying to lift Minato's heavy body up off of the ground. "Come on, Minato-sensei!" Minato just slowly shook his head. All of his energy was focused on holding his son steadily.

"Is Kushina alright?" Kakashi fought back tears; he knew his sensei was going to die.

"Hai," he lied. "She's just waiting on you and Naruto to come back." That part at least was true. Kakashi was surprised by the small laugh Minato let out. Kakashi sat in front of him and stared into his face. "Minato-sensei! Don't go!" he shook him.

"Tell Kushina that he's fine," Minato said before gently placing Naruto in Kakashi's arms. "And let everyone know that he needs to be considered a hero for having this burden placed on him." Kakashi nodded and a tear rolled out of his exposed sharingan eye.

"Yeah." Minato smiled again before the Shinigami managed to finally get the Yondaime's beaten and battered soul.

"Oi. Oi. Oi! OI!" Naruto managed to find Minato's shoulder in the darkness and he shook him.

"Huh?" he asked after finally snapping back from his remembrance of this important event.

"You were just being too quiet," Naruto mumbled grudgingly. Minato laughed a little but then fell silent. "So what do we do next?"

"I have no idea," Minato admitted. "I've never gotten out of here."

"Have you tried?"

"For so long," he muttered before cradling his head in his hands. He was still struggling to get over the idea that his wife was dead.

Naruto grunted in frustration. "There has to be a way out of here!" he yelled.

"Good luck finding it."

"You're a lot of help."

"Well I did just get told that my son was hated for what I did and that my wife is dead."

"So? Shouldn't you want to get out of here anyway?"

"I do. I'm just a little overwhelmed at the moment."

"Hmph." Naruto turned around and decided that he didn't want to deal with this man for much longer. He wanted to go for a quick walk, but then he knew he would get lost. He sighed in defeat and sat down on the cool ground, or whatever it was he was sitting on. Silence once again reigned in the darkness.

"Sakura?" She whirled around to stare back at Tsunade. "I thought you were on call tonight." Tsunade shut the door behind her and went to check the monitors surrounding Naruto's bed. She left after just a few moments and Sakura quietly went back to watching Naruto.

The ominous quiet was soon interrupted but the loud noise of her pager suddenly going off. She sighed loudly and left the room.

Hinata blushed again and turned away from her questioning teammate. "You've been terrible during the latest missions!"

"Kiba, Hinata-san is doing her best," Shino muttered from behind his jacket. Currently they were in a restaurant but Shino refused to eat since he would show his face.

"Hinata! What's bugging you?" Kiba demanded to know. He was running around her so that she would look at him even if she did turn away.

"No-nothing!" She laughed as Kiba dragged Akamaru in front of her.

"Well then tell Akamaru!" The large nin dog barked in encouragement and Shino sighed. Anyone could tell that something was wrong with her and that Kiba was truly worried. Still, he always somehow managed to make Hinata that much happier.

Hinata smiled and leaned down to whisper in Akamaru's ear. Kiba tried to listen in but she shoved him out of the way. "There. I told Akamaru, just like you told me to!" she said proudly. Shino smiled silently and let it continue.

Once they had left the restaurant Kiba began asking even more questions. "Kiba, I'm fine! Really." Shino sighed and just let them be until they reached the training ground where they were to meet up with Kurenai for a simple escort mission.

Shino—although no one else could see it—smiled quite a bit to himself. He only hoped that Kurenai's plan would work out.

"Come oooooon!" Naruto whined even louder. "There has to be a way out of here!"

"I told you, I've been trying for nearly sixteen years and I'm still here. Try reaching out to your body or something," Minato said disdainfully. He wasn't even concentrated on the current events. He had been dead for sixteen years, how long had Kushina been dead? Obviously Ero-Sensei was still alive; Naruto had complained about him for quite a while.

Naruto hmphed and sat still for a few moments. "How do I do that?" he finally asked. Minato sighed deeply and explained, yet again, how he didn't know.

"For my son you are pretty clueless."

"Oh shut up," Naruto retorted. Minato tried not to laugh and instead told him to concentrate on where his current body was and what it felt like. "What does that mean? 'What it felt like'?"

"How it felt to move, how your flesh feels against certain fabrics, what, I don't know, an apple tastes like. Anything and everything about you."

"I don't like apples."

"Quit complaining!" Minato said sternly before sighing again. "That was an example. Just think about everything you used to do and what it feels like, tastes like, anything!" Minato tried to encourage Naruto, but his son was not cooperating. Minato finally gave up trying to tell him what to do and instead decided to just ignore him. This is going to take a while, he thought quietly before the silence reigned in the darkness yet again.

AN: So now that it's summer I'll have more time to work, but since my mom has spring fever ((even though it's summer. Odd, I know)) I'm being forced to help clean the whole house. It should be done within the week which will leave me with more time to work, and therefore longer and better chapters.

I would like to thank my beta, AnimeOtaku31821, yet again for all her help. Trust me, I had no idea what I was doing for a while, but she's helped me get through some terrible cases of Writer's Block and whatnot. I also wish her luck with her schoolwork since that's been a problem lately...

Thanks for reading ((and hopefully reviewing)). I have to admit, I do wish I got more reviews. I want to know what you guys, the valuable readers, think about Martyr. I've also decided that I want to go back to Chapter 1 and 2, maybe even three, and rewrite them a little bit. They weren't that good so I have decided to work on that.

Until next week, Elizabet639