Chapter Sixteen-

Tsunade let her head fall onto one of the large piles of papers that lay all over her desk.

"Goddammit," she thought, "Why me? Why the hell couldn't they have picked someone else to deal with this mess?"

She gritted her teeth and with a lot of effort, raised her head from its previous position and rubbed her eyes. Tsunade was tired. Oh, yes, she was very tired. She felt like the office and the desk she sat at was her prison. Three months ago she would have never believed that this was happening.

When Jiraiya had first found her, though she would never admit it, she was happy to see him. She, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, she thought with a wince, had never been particularly close and after Orochimaru left, they had moved even more apart. She shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. Tsunade hadn't wanted to think about Orochimaru ever since he left. It was funny because even before he became a traitor she hadn't liked him. As a child Orochimaru was nothing short of creepy. He dressed strangely and had a weird way of talking. Nobody really liked him and Tsunade remembered that a lot of the students at the Academy were afraid of him. Needless to say, at first Tsunade was not at all happy to be assigned on the same team as Orochimaru the creep and Jiraiya the…whatever he was. It wasn't like they couldn't work with each other…after a while, but it was more that they had never seemed to care about one another. It wasn't until Orochimaru was exposed to be a traitor that Tsunade had actually realized that she would have cared if they disappeared. This apathy could have come the deaths of- Tsunade cut off that thought skillfully. After all she did have years of practice.

Tsunade wasn't sure what to think of Orochimaru now. For so long she had simply refused to think of him and distracted herself by gambling and drinking. Three months ago when Orochimaru approached her about healing his useless arms she had been furious. She thought she hated him and wanted to kill him. But now that he was actually dead…she didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to think of Jiraiya either. She had been so mad at him for finding her and guilt tripping and blackmailing her until she finally agreed to became Hokage. Sure, the Council had been at the root of it, but it was still Jiraiya, her old teammate, who had betrayed her.

And to make matters worse it was the Kyuubi kid who had killed her old teammate and now the Council demanded his execution.

"One day I'm going to slit all their throats," she thought angrily, "Goddamn Council."

Personally, Tsunade could care less about the brat. However, she had a reason she didn't want him to be executed. It basically summed up to the fact that it would make the Council furious. Tsunade knew that this wasn't the first time the Council had petitioned for the jinchuuriki's death. However, it was the first time that the entire Council had agreed on the issue. Technically, united, they had more power that she did, but Tsunade wasn't going to let the issue go. Nuh uh, no way.

"Hey, Shizune," she yelled, "Get me a bottle of sake!"

She cleared a space on her desk and began to outline her plan. Oooh, the Council was going to pay for messing with her. Time to pull out the big guns.

Tsunade didn't even want to start to think about the Modoka Sazumi/Yamaki Sasumi ordeal yet.

To put it nicely, Naruto felt like crap. His head was pounding and there was a disgusting taste in his mouth. He was lying on something hard that was definitely not his bed, but he couldn't see properly because there was something really bright in his eyes. He frowned and looked down at his clothes. What the hell? His orange jacket and pants were gone and instead he was wearing some weird white yukata. Naruto felt himself go red. W-Wait someone had undressed him?! Naruto shuddered. Ewww…oh, never mind, he was still wearing his boxers. Okay. That was good. He tried to move his hands and raise himself up, but something was restraining him. He looked down and saw handcuffs.

"What the hell?" he muttered pulling at them.

He struggled more, but he couldn't get loose. Naruto looked up at his surroundings and saw that he had been lying on a stone floor in the middle of an empty room. There were bars on the window that was streaming in sunlight. He looked around and saw a huge, heavy, wooden door on the other end. With difficulty, Naruto pushed himself up, only to fall down again when he tried to take a step. He looked down to see his feet chained together.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, "What the hell is going on here?"

Silence.

"Hey!! Anybody there?!"

Nothing.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto dragged himself towards the door and managed to get himself into a standing position. He banged his cuffed hands against the door.

"Oi, let me out of here!! Hey, is there anybody there? Hey!"

Still nothing.

"Assholes! Bastards! Let me out!!!"

After half an hour of yelling and pounding on the door, Naruto was becoming tired. He slumped against the door and stared dejectedly at the floor. He didn't understand what was going on. The last thing he remembered was that Sasumi had been stabbed by the cross dressing bastard Orochimaru. And that was it. Fear gripped Naruto; what if Sasumi was dead? What happened to Sasuke? Why was he locked up? Had Orochimaru kidnapped him or something? There was only one way to find out. Naruto half hopped half crawled over to the window and then stopped. Okay, not fair. Really. He was going to kill whoever decided to make him short. Crap, he was going to have to jump. Naruto bent his knees slightly and sprung upward. He caught a glimpse if something brown and green but he couldn't make out what it was. Wait, he should have done this from the beginning! Naruto cursed himself for being an idiot. All he had to do was use his chakra to break the handcuffs and then he could kick down the door with his awesome powers and become Hokage!!! …Though something told Naruto that he should probably focus on the first two for now.

Naruto took and deep breath and focused his chakra on his wrists. To his surprise the handcuffs did not break off, but instead glowed red and burned him.

"OWW!!" Naruto yelled waving his hands back and forth in an effort to cool them down, "What the hell was that?"

He tried to break his handcuffs again and then the manacles on his feet to the same effect. Naruto whimpered as he stared down at his burnt ankles and wrists. He was going to murder the person who had sealed his chakra. Or at least that's what Naruto thought the handcuffs were for and he was pretty sure he was right. He tried seeing out the window again and though his ankles were screaming in protest he succeeded.

Wait a second…wasn't that Hokage Mountain? Naruto jumped up again and saw a few people on the cliffs, carving in the Godaime's face. What the hell? But…but that would mean he was in Konoha! Aha! Maybe Orochimaru conquered Konoha and…but why would the workers still be carving in the new Hokage's face onto the mountain? Naruto would have looked again but his ankles were killing him. From what angle he had seen the Mountain it would appear that he was very high up. In a tower or something. Naruto hissed as he sat down and rubbed his throbbing ankles.

Naruto was confused. It just didn't make sense. Why would they lock him up? Naruto searched his mind for anything bad he had done…recently. Sure, he had pulled pranks and stuff but nothing bad enough to get locked up…right? Naruto banged his head against the wall and immediately regretted it. He hadn't done anything bad enough to…unless…Naruto's eyes widened and he felt his stomach go cold. Unless… they had found out about Sasumi and were locking him up for not telling them. Which would mean that Sasuke would have to be around here too. But then again, Naruto frowned, Sasuke had been really hurt. So maybe he was in the hospital. Yes that would make sense. Well, Naruto would just have to explain to everyone that Sasumi wasn't a bad person and that the Rain nin were the ones who were the bad people and then they'd let him go. Perfect. Now if only that would work…

Naruto groaned. All this thinking was making his head hurt. Not to mention he was really hungry. How long had he been here anyway?

"Hey, I'm kinda hungry so would you mind letting me out now?"

Silence.

"Assholes," he muttered.

Hours went by, but nobody came. Sometimes Naruto thought he heard someone talking, but he could never be sure. Night came and Naruto drifted off into a restless sleep, hunger eating away at his stomach. He had a strange dream that night. Or maybe it wasn't a dream. He was talking to that bastard fox in his stomach again, but he couldn't remember what the conversation was about.

When he woke the next morning Naruto wasn't hungry anymore, instead he felt like his mouth was on fire. He had always taken water for granted, but now he was seriously regretting that. He tried to swallow and clear his dry throat, but his actions only caused his throat to hurt more. Naruto pulled himself to his feet and to his horror found that he felt dizzy and weak. He slumped against the wall and looked around the room, hoping for water. Nothing.

"Shit," Naruto croaked, "I'm not going-" his shoulders shook as he coughed loudly, "-to die here."

He tried calling for help, but his throat hurt so bad he could hardly talk, much less yell. Naruto sat against the wall in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. He found it hard to think about anything and just stared at the sun go up and down through his barred window. He wasn't even sure he slept. Or maybe it was all a dream and he wasn't even awake in the first place.

"This is not good," was one of his last thoughts before he slipped into a unconsciousness.

Hyuuga Hinata was practicing her taijutsu when she first felt it. That terrifying chakra. For some reason it reminded her of something but she couldn't think of what. Next thing she knew there were alarms going off all over Konoha and an ANBU member came and escorted her back to the 'safety of the village' as he called it. She had asked what was going on, but he refused to tell her. There was talk of monsters and Orochimaru and an entire boatload of things Hinata didn't understand. All the adults, even ones who weren't shinobi, seemed to know what was going on, but none of her classmates were told anything. Not even Neji-ni-san who was a Chuunin. She also became aware that Naruto-kun's team was missing. When she asked if they were involved, the Jounin gave her a long look and then turned away and nodded. Hinata was immediately concerned. What if something had happened to Naruto-kun? What if he was hurt? She felt a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach and swallowed nervously. Later they were told that they could all go home and that the crisis was over. But still no one would tell her what this 'crisis' was and Hinata knew better than to ask her father or any other of her relatives. She had gone to sleep that night frustrated and wishing that people would stop treating her like she was weak and useless. She wasn't the old Hinata anymore. She was different now. She just wanted to know what had happened to Naruto-kun. Was that such a crime? Three days later Hinata got her wish.

Hinata stared at the messenger's back as he departed. She suddenly felt faint and her legs crumpled under her as she fell to her knees.

"Who's Uzumaki Naruto?" Hanabi asked.

No one answered her.

"Hey!" Hanabi said, annoyed.

"That's the reason," her father said wearily, "I told you to stay away from the boy."

Hinata still couldn't move. That was impossible. There was no way that Naruto-kun could be…a monster. No, he couldn't be! It was all a lie! The Kyuubi had been killed, hadn't it? That's what she had been taught. That the Yondaime had sacrificed his life for the village and killed the demon fox. It had to be true-

"Everything you've ever known about him is a lie."

Hinata bit her lip and unconsciously shook her head back and forth. Naruto-kun wasn't like that! He wasn't a monster! He was a goodhearted, kind, albeit a bit slow. But all same he was the nicest boy Hinata had ever met. Sometimes when Hinata was depressed and felt useless and lonely, she would see him and inspire her to be better. And now she was just supposed to believe that he was a monster? But wait, what had the messenger said? He had said the Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto-kun's body. So that meant that the Naruto-kun wasn't a bad person at all! It wasn't his fault that the Kyuubi was sealed inside him. Hinata felt a weight lifted off her shoulders, but it immediately returned as she remembered the next part of the message.

"The execution date is being set as we speak," the messenger said smugly, "All the Council has to do is to go through the trial."

Oh, gods, they were going to kill him!Ho-How could they do that! Naruto-kun was just a boy! Hinata didn't care if he was 'too dangerous' or whatever the messenger had said. They couldn't just kill him…right?

"Onee-san are you okay?"

Hinata looked up at Hanabi's curious eyes and smiled weakly.

"I-I'm fine, I-I think I just need to lie down," she said and left before anyone could admonish her for her 'weakness.'

She slid the door shut of her empty room behind her and dropped to her knees again. Hinata felt her throat tighten and her eyes burn in a familiar way. No! She wasn't going to cry! Her hands fisted the fine tatami and she fought back her tears. After the feeling had passed, she stood up to open the cupboards and take out her futon, but she changed her mind. She wasn't going to just lay in bed and cry. She had to do something! Hinata immediately changed out of her silk kimono and into her ninja gear and then snuck out of her room. As quietly as she could, Hinata slid the door shut and tip toed out of one of the side exits that no real member of the Main House of the Hyuuga clan would ever dream of using. There was nobody in the garden and to her disgust she realized they were all probably inside discussing this new development. This reminded her of something. While the Kyuubi had apparently took control over Naruto-kun's body she had been confused to why all the adults had seemed to know what was going on and none of her year mates did. It all made sense now. The adults had all known because it had been thirteen years ago when the Kyuubi had been sealed into Naruto-kun's body. She and the rest of her generation would have been too young to remember or be told what was going on.

It was almost too easy for Hinata to sneak out of the Main House complex. Even though it was twilight and therefore darker, Hinata thought that the famous Hyuuga clan should be able to catch a mere Genin sneaking out. Or maybe they just didn't care enough.

When she passed the Branch House's main building she recalled that the messenger had said that the Sandaime had insisted on keeping Naruto-kun's true identity a secret and had forbid anyone from talking about the Kyuubi. However, in light of certain events and the fact that the Sandaime was dead, the Council felt it was necessary for everyone in Konoha to know. She wondered if Neji-ni-san knew yet. What would the rest of them think anyway? Would they accept Naruto-kun as the kind person that he was or would they shun him and hate him? Hinata couldn't bear the thought of Naruto's teammates, or anyone else for that matter, hating him. She shook such dark thoughts out of her head and concentrated on her goal. If she was to help him in any way at all, first, she would need information. She needed to fill in some gaps and she wasn't sure she could trust everything the messenger had said anyway. There was only one person Hinata trusted and was comfortable with to ask. She carefully counted the apartment numbers until she came to the apartment that she had visited countless times. She heard the low tones of people talking and hesitated briefly. Hinata strengthened her resolve and thought of Naruto-kun. Whatever they were talking about would have to wait. This was much more important. Hinata raised her hand and knocked resolutely on the door. The voices inside paused for a second and then she heard footsteps approaching. The doorknob turned and the door was pulled open an inch and then all the way.

"Ku-Kurenai-sensei, I'm sorry if th-this is a bad time, but I just heard ab-about-" Hinata started but her teacher cut her off.

"Don't worry, Hinata," she said, "Actually we've been expecting you for a while now."

Hinata turned and saw Kiba-kun and Shino-kun seated on Kurenai-sensei's couch looking extremely serious.

"Come on in, Hinata," her teacher told her in a low voice, "We were just getting started, through you'll have to keep your voice down."

Hinata nodded and stepped into the room.

Buzzing. There was a strange buzzing noise. And then another noise, this time a beeping noise. God, it was annoying! Sasuke opened his eyes angrily at being wakened. He blinked as he realized that the buzzing and beeping noises wasn't his alarm clock and that he was in the hospital. Again. Sasuke closed his eyes and hoped that it would just all go away. After a few seconds, he opened them again and found that, unfortunately, he was in the hospital. For the third time in six months. Goddammit, he hated this hospital. He had not only hated it ever since he woke up here as a child after Itachi had murdered his parents, but also because the nurses would not leave him alone. No, really, last time he was here with Naruto they all swarmed him and … said…embarrassing…things, yeah. Sasuke conveniently forgot that saying things wasn't all they did.

Sasuke looked to his left and saw the machine that was making all annoying noises. He glared at it as if to say: "If you don't shut up, I'm going to throw a shuriken at you." Sasuke turned away and attempted to sit up to better see his surroundings, but his chest gave an unexpected spasm and Sasuke cried out before he could stop himself. Sasuke laid back breathing heavily. What the hell?

"Sasuke? Are you okay?"

Sasuke tore his eyes away from the bandages wrapped all the way down his torso he had just noticed and looked up to see Kakashi and a nurse. Despite the situation Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Evil nurses.

"What the hell happened?" Sasuke said grumpily, ignoring the nurse who was looking at him concernedly.

"Are you alright, Uchiha-san?" she asked and put her hand on his arm.

Sasuke twitched, "Fine," he said through gritted teeth, fighting off the urge to yank his arm away and/or yell at her to go away.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Kakashi noticed Sasuke's discomfort and told the nurse that he would like to speak privately with his student. The nurse looked devastated, but thankfully left.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at Sasuke who was extremely annoyed that he couldn't sit up.

"Don't look at me like that," Sasuke hissed.

"You seem to have a talent for getting yourself in the hospital don't you?" Kakashi said, obviously amused.

Sasuke glared at him, "What. Happened."

"You forgot again?"

"Kakashi!!" Sasuke said threateningly.

"Fine, fine, don't be so impatient."

Sasuke glared at him. Arrogant bastard. He wracked his brain trying to remember and then, like a lightning bolt, he remembered.

"Shit! Where's Sasumi! And Naruto!" Sasuke hissed in pain as he attempted to sit up again.

"Sasuke, don't move," Kakashi said, sounding more serious, "You'll irritate your wounds more. Tell me what happened."

"Where are they?" Sasuke hissed angrily.

"What happened?" Kakashi said softly.

Sasuke glared angrily through he knew it didn't look impressive from a hospital bed.

"Orochimaru came," Sasuke said gruffly, avoiding Kakashi's eyes, "Wanted me to join him. I refused, we got into a fight, Naruto and Sasumi showed up, Orochimaru took out Sasumi, Naruto…Naruto turned into some monster and then I don't remember after that."

Talking about Naruto made Sasuke strain to remember the thing he had turned into. What was that anyway? And more importantly, where were they?

Kakashi sighed audibly, "That sounds about right," he said, more to himself than to Sasuke, "To tell the truth, Sasuke, I don't know where either of them are."

Sasuke's eyes widened, "WHAT!!"

"Keep your voice down," Kakashi told him.

Sasuke squirmed uncomfortably on the bed wanting to sit up, "They're not…" he trailed off.

"I'm pretty sure they're alive, however, I haven't been allowed to see them."

"Why?"

Kakashi sighed again, "I didn't really want to be the one to tell you this, but it seems that both your teammates have been deceiving you."

A/N: Another chapter! Yay! This fic is getting really long, isn't it? Some people were commenting about how Tsunade seemed really mean, and I hope this chapter cleared it up. Tsunade's mad because, one, she doesn't want to be the Hokage in the first place, and two, suddenly she has all this work about Naruto, Sasumi, and Orochimaru to do.

I'm going to be gone for the next four weeks on holiday so I won't be posting anytime soon. Review and please don't kill me? Also, in my profile there's a section called Fic Status. Since I practically live on this site, you can see how close I am to updating. The title of this chapter refers to that while Naruto and Sasumi are 'shut in,' the truth about them is laid bare. Thanks to my awesome beta this is readable.