Review Responses:

Skywolf99: You asked so you shall receive!

MK loves NaruSaku: Thanks! I figured I'd give my OC villain a solid history. Gonna try and make you guys love him and hate him by the end of this book lol.

clank2662: Haha. Not gonna say a word. Wouldn't want to spoil it now would I lol.

Guest: I'm glad you've been so dedicated! Hearing that stuff spurs me to write even more! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Sakura awoke when she first realized that the space on the bed where Naruto sleeps was empty. She lifted her head and looked around the room. She was still trying to shake the fog of sleep out of her brain and failed to notice the sliver of light shining out from beneath the bathroom door. Inside the bathroom Naruto sat against the door still trying to recover from the hellish nightmare he just experienced. Over the course of his life he has always had nightmares ranging in content but after he began travelling with the Akatsuki and Jiraiya he began having a nightmare that involved Jiraiya.

In those dreams he would often be forced to watch his mentor fight against a figure. He could never make out his shape and the more he focused on certain parts of the figure the more they would blur out. Jiraiya would fight desperately against this person but woukd never land a blow. Eventually the person would grow bored and begin killing Jiraiya right in front of him. Naruto's screams would go unheard as he broke down and cried while he watched the closest thing to a father he has ever had die a slow and torturous death. Then the figure would look in his direction and would always say the same words: "She's next."

Thinking about what those words meant sent a chill down his spine and the thought of being forced to watch his friends die in front of him made the blonde break into a cold sweat. When he was training his Genin team he would also be meditating and slowly increasing the duration of his Sage Mode. The training was taxing enough by itself however when he was alone he would practice each elemental affinity by sparring against Sage Mode Enhanced Kage Bunshin. However the dreams had begun to shift 2 weeks ago. Now instead of just being forced to watch Jiraiya die each dream would throw another friend in and he would watch each of them die in different ways, each worse than the last.

Tonight's new friend to be killed was Sasuke. After he watched the friends before him die his voice was already hoarse from screaming warnings to his friends and shouting curses at the attacker. His tears were dried up and he felt numb. He wanted to cry when Sasuke was stabbed by countless shrouded blades. He wanted to cry when the figure slowly pulled out each of Sasuke's eyes. He wanted to cry when Sasuke, crawling blindly towards him with blood running from the empty holes where his eyes once were, begged for him to help before he was lifted into the air and decapitated. Normally one would cry when his best friend is cut down right before his eyes. They would cry, curse, make futile promises...anything to try to make them open their eyes again. But that was not what happened.

Naruto shed no tears. Screamed no threats. He promised nothing. He just...stared.

His gaze was empty, seemingly dead to the world. He was drained. Emotionally drained from the constant nights of traumatizing events only to be forced to wake up and put on a smile. It was bad enough now where he would see flashes of the grisly remains of his friends even as he spoke to them. Their voices rang in his head crying out for help that was impossible to give. The cries of help would then shift to accusations. He would see their faces as they glare at him like the villagers once did. They would ridicule him, degrade him, call him a lier and tell him how he would never fulfill his promises. He would fail them all in reality like he did in his nightmares. However tonight during this verbal onslaught only one thing held his attention: the severed head of Sasuke Uchiha with bloody holes where his eyes once were yet the head maintained eye contact with the blonde. Right before the next bout of verbal abuse came the head gave him a smile twisted with demented glee and said two words: "She's next."

It was at that point that Naruto shot up in his bed eyes wide with terror. He frantically searched the room for the mutilated corpses that were just tormenting him. Naruto's heart was racing and refused to slow its erratic pace. He got up and stumbled like a drunk to the bathroom. After closing and locking the door he quickly stumbled his way to the sink. He tripped and caught himself on the sink counter and using it to support his weight he filled the sink with near freezing water and plunged his heated face into the water. After repeating the action several times he finally grabbed a towel and began to use it to dry his face. After emptying the sink he collapsed against the bathroom door, put his hands on his face, and shed silent tears. He was as quiet as possible during the whole ordeal. He had two priorities at the time: calm himself down and to do so without waking Sakura.

Despite everything he still cared for her more than himself. He would never willingly tell her why he appeared so sad in the mornings when she asked. He would just plaster on his smile and ask her what she was talking about. The first few times she would pry at him for information but he would continually dodge the question and try to change the subject. He didn't want to make her worry about his problems. He would stay silent about it until the day he died if he could. Just as long as his little cherry blossom was happy.

Sakura finally noticed the beam of light seeping out from under the door when she returned to the bedroom after checking the darkened house for him. She seen the shadow of someone that appeared to be sitting against the door. As she approached the door she seen the shadow rise and the door came open. The sudden light blinded her momentarily and her training kicked in until she heard Naruto's voice.

"Sakura? What are you doing up so late?" Concern for her wellbeing flooded his voice and as her eyes adjusted to the light she seen him looking at her with concern in his cerulean eyes. She also caught a glimmer of something resembling sadness in his gaze. Her medical training kicked in and she could see his muscles tensed up beneath his tanned skin, a noticeable difference from his usual state of relaxation. Yet even then she could tell he was tensed up slightly, ready to respond to danger at a moment's notice. However now there was none of that practiced tenseness. Now it was as if he had just come out of a fear induced state of shock. She also noticed how his eyes were twitching slightly as if he was scanning the room while keeping his gaze on her. She could see the slight dampness of his hair from when he had submerged his head in water. His eyes were slightly red and puffed up from crying and the smell of sweat faintly lingered on him. She knew at once that he was definitely not fine.

"Naruto what happened?" She kept her voice as gentle as possible yet she wasn't going to let him dodge the question this time.

"Sakura don't change the question. Did I wake you up?" He seen he eyes darken at his attempts to avoid his question. He knew that this time he wasn't getting out of this.

She seen his fragile control shatter the moment she began to get angry. His eyes began frantically looking for an escape route like a cornered animal. She instantly recognized these symptoms. The recognition made her blood run cold. He was displaying the same symptoms as the severe trauma patients she had to treat. These patients were few due to the simple fact that the amount of traumatic events needed to drive someone to this point was usually only seen in S ranked levels of genjutsu. She instantly switched to medic mode and tried to calm him down while keeping her voice as soothing as possible. It seemed to be working until he heard someone pounding on the door. Sakura took one look at him and knew her chance was ruined. She became frightened when the ripples extended from his pupils with the tomoe spinning out before settling into position. She turned and ran from the room. Her one goal was to get Minato to safety. She ran into his room and scooped him up. With near inhuman speeds fueled by chakra and adrenaline she barreled through the door straight into Sasuke. She continued moving forward and took him over the balcony with her. She landed on her feet protectively clutching Minato in one hand while dragging Sasuke with her other.

"Sakura! Stop! What's going on?!" She threw him to his feet and locked eyes with him briefly.

"Run!"

Suddenly a loud explosion was heard and Sasuke watched the smoke curl into the early morning sky. He grabbed her shoulders before she could bolt and repeated the question. Another explosion later and still no answer Sasuke used a genjutsu to find out.

After returning to reality Sakura had calmed down slightly. Although it didn't help that the Uchiha looked slightly afraid. The same Uchiha who had never shown fear after his battle with Zabuza during their first "C rank" mission.

"Sakura get Minato to safety. I will alert Tsunade. We need to get the people out of here. In his state he is likely hallucinating which may make everyone look like a threat. Go! Now!" The Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke as soon as Sakura was three rooftops away.

Their voices mocked him with his failures over and over. Everywhere he looked their bodies stood rotting away yet still talking. But this time was different. This time he could fight back. He raised the chakra cannon and leveled on a group of civilians. Terrified by the action and his crazed look they ran away from him.

"WHAT?! NO MORE INSULTS NOW THAT I CAN DO SOMETHING!?" He let out a crazed laugh and fired a shot. Before his attack hit the running corpses another fell from the sky and absorbed the attack. He fired another at the rotting body with the same result. Now enraged he went into Sage Mode and charged.

Nagato quickly dodgex right just as Naruto stabbed at him with the sword that was his hand a few seconds ago. Nagato continued blocking and dodging just long enough for the recently recovered Itachi to land right in front of Naruto. They locked eyes and Naruto fell forward onto the ground, the inertia from his strike carrying his now limp body forward. Itachi fell to one knee, his body still getting used to such high levels of strain again after doing nothing for months. Tsunade arrived moments later with Sakura. The pinkette had left Minato with her parents and hurried back. The other members of the Akatsuki arrived at the same time. Shinobi took watch on rooftops to ensure their Hokage's safety. They all knew that if Naruto was still going they wouldn't be able to do anything other then become human body shields for their leader.

Ino and her father Inoichi arrived after being summoned by Tsunade via ANBU. They instantly set to work and entered his mind. Minutes ticked by which soon turned into an hour. Finally after a long hour of suspense the two Yamanakas opened their eyes and turned towards Tsunade and Sakura.

"We need to talk in private. Now!"

Inoichi's tone said it all.

Something very bad had happened.

AN: God I know you all probably hate me after this but hey it keeps you coming back. Thank you guys for the positive reviews last chapter. I can't wait to hear more from you! Also I have started a Facebook page to keep you guys updated and just to talk. My name is Tailed Titan (still not gonna say my real one lol). Please check it out and feel free to send me friend requests or even just follow me. I really want to hear from you and be able to keep you updated on the story that way if something comes up and I'm unable to post you guys will have a heads up. I hate leaving you in the dark like I have been. Well as always please Read, Review, and Enjoy!