Chapter 12 - Conspiracy

It was almost morning again before the three clones got near Konoha, with Gaara following them at a sedate pace, clearly not used to travelling any significant distances at speed. In many ways his skills weren't far beyond Genin – he usually fought while standing still, and he didn't seem to care much for generic jutsu. The clones knew better than to underestimate him, though; if he got agitated, things could get quite messy, and Boss wasn't around to offer a counter-argument. Three clones were just going to end up popped.

Not that it seemed like combat was necessary. Gaara was behaving oddly, clearly uncomfortable without his sand protection, yet he seemed reluctant to remove the seal that blocked the demonic chakra from pouring out. The sand streamed to him like a waterfall whenever he did so, but it could barely form the protective barrier before he placed the seal back on again.

The clones had figured that removing the seal hurt, a lot. That much was obvious. For Gaara, pain was unusual to begin with; the intense agony of suddenly being exposed to the Ichibi's mind, never the most stable of the Bijū, had to be severe. The boy had gotten used to its presence, adapted to it, but those few days of rest must have been dramatically less stressful than the boy's usual life. Had this been true, before, in the other time? Or had the problem ever occurred, before Akatsuki removed Shukaku entirely?

So, if Gaara chose the mild discomforts of feeling unprotected over the agony of his tailed beast's chakra, which explained a few of his actions. His insistence to go towards Konoha was far more puzzling. The Hokage didn't know about the details regarding Gaara, nor Jiraiya, which would make his sudden appearance very strange. Even if the boy refrained from the brutal murders that seemed to be a primary motivation in this part of his life, a second jinchūriki in town would put forth a lot of questions that were tough to answer. The clones could probably hide him for a while; without demonic chakra, courtesy of the seal, he would be hard to track. That was hardly a solution, though.

"Yo, other clone," one of the three clones said as he pondered these questions. He paused when both of the others turned towards him. "Man, that's going to get old really fast, confusing each of us for the other. We need to figure out how to organize, you know?"

The second hesitated, then his face lit up. "How about we make up names? I mean, we've already got Naruko for the Sexy Jutsu girl, right?"

Gaara stared at the clone with a bland expression.

"Er... well, I'd suggest the Sannin, but that would just sound really dumb. Nobody would want to be snake face." the third argued. "Maybe we could go with the Kumo technique? Just letters?"

"Hah! Just call me A, then," the first clone exclaimed, turning to his neighbour clone "You can be B, and the genius over here can be C. What do you think? I don't think they would mind if we stole their names for a bit, right?"

The third clone scowled. "Hey, I came up with this system, and I'm C? You get to be the Raikage, and I'm Blondie the medic? That's so unfair." He muttered.

"Well, it fits. You are blond, dummy."

C rolled his eyes. "We all are!"

"I am not," Gaara added, staring at the others with that disconcerting unblinking expression.

"Thank you. We had not noticed," B said dryly. "So, I'm Octopops? I can deal with that. I am a stone-cold rapper with an attitude, fight me with me, and you'll be screwed!" He struck a pose. "Fool, ya fool!"

"Fool indeed. Let's not forget why we went to Gaara in the first place," the self-proclaimed A muttered. He turned to the Suna boy with a serious expression. "You need to know about Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki? Dawn?"

"They're a group of S-rank criminals – real badasses – that are out to hunt down the jinchūriki. They want to rip the tailed beasts out for their own purposes, and the extraction process..." He grimaced. "Let's say that it isn't pretty."

"They hunt for... mother?" Gaara frowned, putting a hand over his seal. "Why?"

"Power, of course. The usual world-conquering, probably," A retorted. "Listen, we'll leave that for the Boss, alright? We'll cross the perimeter of Konoha soon, and we must be careful with you along, since you're not a citizen. If you promise not to go on a crazy rampage, I'll get you a proper seal, so you can use your sand again. Since the new version of your seal would be about as strong as Boss's and the Ichibi's not quite as strong as the Kyūbi, it should work."

"Not as strong?"

"Yours has one tail, compared to nine," B summarized. "That's about it, really. Don't know how much it differs, but I don't think anyone disputes that Kyūbi's king of the monsters. He would certainly argue that."

"You talk a lot," Gaara said after a while. "Even to yourself."

"We're clones, of course we are," A responded. "Boss tells us to jump, we ask how high. Really it's our best technique - ages of training to get it all figured out. Of course, since we can use clones to speed it up, it can really be considered cheating."

"There is no such thing as cheating among ninja," Gaara said plainly.

"You learned the shinobi rules? I usually forget them the moment that people mention them."

"Shush." C raised a hand to his mouth. "We'll have to sneak in under cover. Gaara, do you know Henge? You should still be able to use your normal chakra, at least a little." He frowned. "Something innocuous would work, such as an animal."

"Oooh, you can be a raccoon dog! The rest of us can be foxes, and then we just traipse in along the back, by the training fields." B snickered. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

Gaara just stared.

Hiruzen wasn't shocked very often; his life had been too long and eventful for anything to really shock him anymore. Jiraiya wasn't much different, and the two had spent the past few days catching up on old times, as well as spending time on figuring out what to do about Sand's latest actions, not to mention Orochimaru.

Today, that had changed. As he was cleaning up the office and throwing away a thick stack of old paperwork, Hiruzen had been startled by his son who stormed right into the room. Asuma had laid out for him some disturbing events that happened at the Konoha hospital, events that seemed positively ridiculous. Even now he had trouble wrapping his head around the stated facts: Naruto, fresh Genin, had allegedly killed a ninja several ranks above his own, and in a most gruesome fashion.

Hiruzen had rushed over instantly, of course, but with Naruto unconscious and wounded, there was little chance he would be ready for questioning any time soon. He had assigned shinobi to take care of the clean-up and to research what had happened before he had, with a heavy heart, gone to find the boy's teacher. He should have realized that when Team 7 didn't show up at his office in the evening, despite Naruto's promise, something was off.

He had considered waiting at the hospital, but he knew that it would do no good. He had spent his time busying himself with other duties, knowing that this issue would keep him up; he hadn't slept a minute. It was with equal parts dread and relief that he received news that Naruto had awakened, if only briefly, shortly after the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. Hiruzen had straightened his robes, set his expression, and went on his way, hoping dearly that today was not the day he would have to put his predecessor's child in jail.

He vaulted lightly from roof to roof under the light of the early morning sun, ignoring the soft creaking of his bones, the sure signs that his best years were behind him now. Still, even with those uncomfortable reminders, he could soldier on for half a decade, and then he would pass on his hat to someone worthy. He had an eye on a few people already, just in case.

His mind returned to the matter at hand. Asuma had told him, in no uncertain terms, that Naruto had killed one of the medics at the hospital. Hiruzen wasn't sure what to think of that; it didn't seem to be in the boy's character, for one, and despite some disagreements over the boy's frankly irresponsible attitude towards training his more atypical skills, he seemed fine. Like all ninja, Hiruzen was certain the boy could kill if necessary, but he couldn't fathom a scenario in which a medic would be the victim. Certainly not on the spur of the moment.

Something was definitely off, here.

"I should never have gone along with this," he muttered to himself, thinking back to Naruto's visit, only a short time ago. The boy had seemed confident that he could control the Nine-Tails chakra. It was no surprise, really, considering his apparent gift for Fūinjutsu; there was a good mind hidden in that thick skull. Begrudgingly he had to admit that Naruto had the right to use the abilities granted to him as he saw fit, just like anyone else. Still – if the boy's experimentation had led to deaths, he would have to cut off that aspect of his training.

The Hokage's arrival at Naruto's room was met with no surprise. Moroni Ibiki, head of the Interrogation corps, stood along the wall with his arms crossed, rubbing his scarred chin as he looked down upon his unconscious subject. Naruto lay strapped onto a bed, asleep, his limbs tied down with strong ropes. Little tubes and wires ran along his arms and down from his nose, attached to a large beeping device that had a comfortable normal rhythm to it.

"How is his condition, now?"

Ibiki looked down to the paper on the desk beside him. "The subject displays intermittent consciousness, and when awake there is only limited communication possible. No speech, not yet. His throat is swollen and it'll have to calm down first." The man frowned as he glanced back over his paper. "There is something. Hokage-sama – there are clear signs of tissue damage that could take several days to heal. Near as I can tell, they're caused by some kind of corrosive chakra. The most likely explanation would be demonic in nature. The Nine-Tails."

Hiruzen gave a quick nod as he stepped over to the bed. "Did the creature manage to break free somehow? I could see Naruto hastening to the hospital if his seal went wild."

Ibiki shook his head emphatically. "No, the seal is intact. Jiraiya-sama visited last night, and he seemed convinced that the seal is as strong as ever, and that it has not been tampered with. It seems more likely that the Kyūbi's chakra was invoked willingly, using the seal itself as a kind of channel. It is quite a formidable proposition, that a Genin could command such power."

Hiruzen was not very surprised by that observation. "Naruto informed me that his seal was designed to let small doses of chakra merge with his own, and that he was able to use it. Channelling the creature's power was part of Minato's intention behind using this particular shape, though his exact motivations may never be known." He raised Naruto's shirt, frowning. "The seal remains visible, even now?"

"There's some low-level chakra usage," Ibiki noted. "It is not uncommon among trauma victims, generally. It can be considered a form of incontinence; with the size of the chakra channels that the subject possesses, it is hardly odd. It can be dangerous in weaker ninjas, but this boy would die of old age before he runs out."

Hiruzen dropped Naruto's shirt back over the Nine-Tails' seal. His skin felt cold and clammy as Hiruzen wiped the hair out of the boy's eyes worriedly. His hitai-ate lay beside him on the desk, alongside his equipment. "Tell me the details of what happened, please. I was present at the retrieval, but there are many things I doubtlessly missed in the confusion."

Ibiki looked meaningfully at the two Jōnin who stood silently in the corners of the room. They quickly left, closing the door behind them. "The earliest part in the chain of events that we could determine was that the subject, Naruto, left his teacher, Hatake Kakashi, and his fellow students. Afterwards, the first confirmed identification is at the hospital, where he came in with unknown health problems; he was seen clutching his arm. He was then brought back to one of the private rooms; the exact reasons for this are unknown, as the only medic who was aware of those facts is now deceased."

Hiruzen frowned. "Possibly an accident that required immediate healing that the Bijū could not fix? Go on."

"Approximately ten minutes later, a surge of chakra warned several staff members that something was off. Some had reported sensing an uncomfortable chakra in the air, but there were no Sensors present to identify it. Remnants were identified this morning as the Kyūbi's chakra." Ibiki frowned. "When Sarutobi Asuma tracked the chakra spike, he discovered Naruto and medic Ryosuke, specialist Jōnin. The former had exhausted his chakra and was sitting within some kind of seal, drawn on the floor in his own blood. The latter was gone, apparently crushed to death."

"Crushed?"

Ibiki grunted. "The cause of death doesn't seem to be related to the Kyūbi's chakra at all. There are superficial burns on what remains of his hands, but these are easily explained by being in the vicinity of the chakra while Naruto channelled it, rather than the result of a direct attack. Unfortunately the hands were pulverized beyond recognition, so I cannot be conclusive. There could have been other wounds of which the evidence has been obliterated." He tapped his file, grabbing an intricate drawing of Ryosuke's body. "From first observations, I conclude that something very powerful constricted around his body and squashed it in a single instant, effectively destroying every major organ except the brain. The medic's blood was found covering the entire room, though in an uneven pattern; some kind of implosion jutsu is implicated."

"Does Naruto even know a jutsu like that?" Hiruzen asked, glancing at the unconscious boy. "We may be looking at a set-up. What was the blood seal for?"

"A wound transference ritual," Ibiki said, grimacing. "It's used to kill people by proxy; the killer stabs themselves, which results in the same wound appearing on the target's body as well. Instructions for its use were found in a nearby scroll, alongside a great many others. It seems as if someone, presumably our Genin, ransacked the hospital's scrolls and followed the instructions for this particular ritual."

"Naruto would hardly murder someone, let alone like that," Hiruzen said, shaking his head. "Even if he did, it is obvious that his body is not crushed as Ryosuke's. That implies there was a third person in the room. Naruto, the medic, and whoever killed the latter. Yet, only two people were found."

"The scroll which lists the seal in question used belongs to the archives of an ancient cult," Ibiki observed. "It was not supposed to be in this particular examination room. In fact, it had been listed as missing from the Jōnin library for several months." Ibiki paused. "It is certainly not to be in reach of Genin. We'll have to figure out who might have handled it before."

"How did Naruto know about it?" Hiruzen frowned. Naruto had been stealing scrolls - or borrowing them, as he would put it - was it conceivable that he got his hands on this one as well?

"I have no idea how he acquired it," Ibiki admitted, shaking his head. "Perhaps the boy can enlighten us, when he awakens." He turned to the boy's side and blinked. "It seems the Nine-Tails must be worrying too."

"Hmmm?"

Ibiki gestured to the window.

Outside, on the windowsill, sat a little fox, shivering in the cold wind.

"This is definitely not good," C muttered to himself as he made his way across town as a civilian, focusing on not running, even if he really wanted to. Disguising himself as a fox had paid off – he hadn't been recognized, at least – but it opened up a giant can of worms.

He had gone to the hospital out of curiosity, searching for the Boss, after home turned out to be empty and the bed not made. The Hokage had entered then, and he had been curious what was going on. He had found the Boss alright, but that was just the beginning of things. He's listened in, and found out some awfully disturbing things.

What exactly had happened while the battle with Hidan unfolded? Someone had died here in Konoha. The Kyūbi's chakra had been involved, too, and more. The good mood he had talked himself into had evaporated; it didn't matter what to do about Gaara, if the Boss was locked up in some deep dungeon for killing a fellow ninja. Even if it was true, and the clone rather doubted it, he would need to figure out a way to free the Boss to prevent the bad possible futures from becoming a reality.

C arrived near the wall, ducking under a tall tree into a secluded little garden that he remembered hiding in when he was much younger. "A, B, are you here?"

"Man, now the ABC thing just sound like toddlers making stuff up," B complained as he dropped out of the tree. His face was reminiscent of Sasuke's with Shikamaru's hair, and he scowled in much the same way as the latter. He looked ridiculous.

"Where's Gaara?" C asked confusedly as he glanced between him and A, who he had spotted a few feet away on the wall, lounging lazily against it with chakra control sticking him to it like a fly.

"I am here." A blond girl stepped out of the bushes next to C, and looked at him with a very dull stare, though the edge of insanity was still there, just as he remembered it. He was tempted to poke fun at the disguise, but he couldn't manage the hilarity right now.

"We need to have an emergency clone convention or something, since something is terribly off. Boss is in the hospital. Also, he is sort of under suspicion for murder."

"Crap, they found out about Mizuki?" B wondered. "We burned his ass!"

"No, not him."

"Gatō? Come on, that's just not plausible."

"Someone else," C said, aggravated. "A medic at the hospital. Some innocent guy, I think."

"What the hell did Boss do now?" A whined as he joined the others. He hadn't bothered to disguise himself beyond turning his vest, pants and hair a dull brown. "Are we clones the only ones that can do something right around here? Sheesh."

"We are him, you know. Plus, it was a clone that practically handed Hidan a sample of our blood," B noted dryly. "I think that counts as screwing up royally."

"Boss is in the hospital with chakra burns all over," C snapped. "He's strapped to a bed and Ibiki's there. Two ANBU too. I think they're waiting for him to wake up before they question him about what went on. Focus, everyone."

"That does sound serious," A admitted.

"Near as I can tell, Boss went to a medic and got himself checked in for that freaky jutsu that Hidan used," C said. "He has most of the same wounds as Hidan inflicted on himself. He also used Kurama's chakra, and a lot of it. At least a full tail, I think, like that time in the Valley of the End, with Sasuke."

"Hidan's hits must have hurt a lot more than I'd thought," A muttered, shaking his head. "Kurama supercharged Boss's healing to keep up with the ritual. When Hidan went to town on himself, though, even he couldn't really keep up with the sudden wounds popping up."

"That's not the crazy part," C continued. "Ibiki mentioned that there was some kind of ritual involved, with a seal on the ground, written in blood." He looked up meaningfully at that. "He replicated Hidan's jutsu here, I would say. The medic died by being crushed. I think that's how Boss broke the ritual. He put it on someone else instead of himself."

"He just used a medic to save his own neck?" B asked in horror, glancing towards Gaara. "The sand burial got transferred here, and it got someone else instead of him."

"Damn, that's cold," A said. "I'm not sure if I could've done something like that – well, I suppose I would have." He grimaced. "I would at least have found a criminal to use, or something."

"Probably didn't have the time," B said darkly. "Look, I'm not defending it, but you know that if we're not around, a hell of a lot more people would die, right? I mean, Akatsuki would butcher everyone. He couldn't just get murdered and make things worse."

"So, what are you saying? Killing one innocent to maybe save others is justified?"A countered. "That's nihilistic territory, man. That's –" he glanced at Gaara, who was looking on with an expression bordering on boredom.

"I took the life of the woman I was supposed to call mother in the process of being born," Gaara said right then, staring impassively at the three clones. "I did not survive because of luck. My purpose was greater. My purpose is to survive, and to destroy those who would treasure me. It is purpose that drives us both. Clearly, we are alike. Your purpose was greater than the dead man's. That is why you survive."

"Man, you're creepy," A muttered. "I guess it was either us or an innocent, though." He looked away. "Gaara's right, this time, as crazy as it sounds."

"Having a reason doesn't excuse killing Konoha citizens, damn it," B cursed. "We screwed up, big time, and now Boss is paying the price. I'm guessing that the Boss found this ritual, and used it. That basically means that we either fess up to some serious crimes, and give up the chance that Boss gave us, or we spin it even further and get away free. Even if we have to lie our asses off to do it."

"Spin it?"

"The Hokage seems to lean towards blaming the Boss already," C said. "We can't explain the stuff that happened here at all, and it's not too flattering for the Boss anyway. We can't really explain that Naruto sent a horde of clones with blood samples into the wilderness and just happened to run into an S-rank criminal either."

"A-rank," Gaara noted neutrally.

"Whatever rank he was." C paced back and forth, concentrating. "If we want to implicate Akatsuki for what happened here, we could probably pull that off. I mean, the Boss isn't here to contradict, and all they have beyond his word is a body and some sketchy rituals. We know that they aren't going to pull anything out of Boss's mind with Kurama in there, so perhaps we could shift the blame."

"You want to put it on the medic," B observed suddenly. "That's your plan, isn't it? To place the entire weight of things on the dead medic. That's awfully cold, really. If Boss killed him, it'd be rather nasty to twist that around and have that man's name scratched from the memorial stone before it's even there."

"Well, we don't have to ruin his reputation here," C said, frowning. "We all know that Akatsuki has those crazy fake body jutsu, right? Where they take over other people's bodies and control them by remote? It's been less than half a day since this all happened, so odds are that the medic's body is still due for in-depth research. If we slip in something to connect the body to Akatsuki, Jiraiya will recognize it. Maybe mess with the residual chakra to suggest that the body was being controlled."

"If we had a white Zetsu lying around, we could have used that," B muttered. "It's not a terrible idea, really."

C shrugged. "If we blame this medic guy for attacking the Boss, then we need to explain what happened, exactly. We could probably argue that the Kyūbi chakra was due to Hidan's ritual, even if we don't mention Hidan. We could argue that the medic used the jutsu on Naruto and was preparing to kill him. That only leaves the crushed state of the body." A met Gaara's eyes. "The results wouldn't be quite the same without your sand in the nooks and crannies."

"You want to put Gaara in this conspiracy?" B inquired incredulously. "Are you nuts?"

"We already told the old man that we can sense other jinchūriki," C noted quickly, glancing at the Suna boy meaningfully. "It's close enough to true, anyway. If we argue that the Ichibi homed in on Boss's chakra in a similar way and Gaara killed the attacker, that would make sense. Jinchūriki look after one another, that sort of thing. He's a Sand shinobi, though, so of course he would have hightailed it out before the ANBU and such arrive. The Hokage wouldn't throw him in prison for defending me."

"So, what, Gaara teleported all the way from Suna?" B said dryly.

"No. He was here to do exactly what we plan on doing," A said suddenly, suddenly smiling brightly. "Pervy Sage told the Hokage what we put in that letter to him, and we mentioned an emissary's arrival in passing, so we had a way out if anything got too wild. We didn't specify when, but if anything would accelerate such a trip, it would be something like this. He was heading here, and we knock out two birds with one stone. The Kazekage will know that Gaara's in Konoha, and we can pass off his arrival without too much fanfare."

The Suna jinchūriki looked between the excited clones with an unreadable expression before he simply slid to the ground against the wall.

"This could work!" C agreed, glancing back at him. "You could be our emissary from the Sand, here to warn the Hokage about Akatsuki who have tried to attack him. We clones could disguise ourselves as escorts from Suna, even."

Gaara frowned. "What did you tell him? What did you tell father?"

A blanched. "Oh, right. Well, Boss actually sort of told you the truth about that." He rubbed the back of his head. "We sort of agreed that you would spend a year in Konoha, as a sort of insurance, shall we say, or a peace offering to keep the alliance going even after the mistake the Kazekage almost made in going along with Orochimaru."

"And you believe he would not attack a place where I reside?" Gaara inquired suddenly, his eyes sharp. "Father has attempted to rob me of my existence before."

"He might dare to try, but he'd be stupid," A responded immediately. "Two jinchūriki in one town, and one of the strongest standing forces, period? He would need allies, lots of allies. He doesn't know about me, really, but he knows that you can pull off your one-tail transformation and wreck stuff. That should give him pause."

The three clones looked at Gaara pleadingly, and the boy sighed, glancing down at his seal which was still covered by a paper one. "You seem to think that your village would tolerate my presence. If anyone attacks me, I will kill them."

"Yes, yes, that's totally in character," B muttered. "A, go bug the body of that medic. After all the times we shared a body with Kurama, I think being controlled by an outside force shouldn't be a hard thing to replicate. I'll go with Gaara and play the Suna representative that Gaara bailed on."

"What about me?" C inquired.

"You get to tell Boss about the plan," B said with a smile. "He'll have to play his part. We'll get him out of this mess, and then we can figure out the rest afterwards."

C nodded sharply. "Don't screw up, anyone." He vanished in a puff of smoke.

"I don't understand, Hokage-sama." Kakashi shook his head. "Last night, he seemed adamant that he would get a C-rank for the team. And that's right after he awakened Sasuke's Sharingan, effectively for no reward. We even spoke a little, and he seemed fine."

"Then, only an hour or two later, this happened." Hiruzen said, staring at the bed. "He's been awake a few times, but the only thing I've heard is some mumblings. Probably the same that Asuma relayed – someone saved his life, apparently."

"Who?"

"The third person, I suspect." He narrowed his eyes as he considered the unconscious youth before him. "I am not one to think the worst of people, Kakashi. There are only a few possibilities here Naruto inexplicably killing a Medical-Nin in a fit of Kyūbi-filled rage seems the obvious explanation, but I severely doubt that's what happened. If it was just the fox, why was there a blood seal present at all?"

"You think someone attacked Naruto? In the hospital?" Kakashi wondered. "Why?"

"It is a distinct possibility," the Hokage said. "The seals to ensure privacy were activated – nobody heard anything, they only sensed the chakra. If someone attempted to murder Naruto, they chose an opportune location. Ryosuke-san may have simply been unlucky, caught between the killer and his would-be victim. As for why – there are many reasons that come to mind."

"The Fox." Hiruzen and Kakashi turned as one to the bed, where Naruto's eyes fluttered open, bright blue as ever. He grimaced briefly, a look of guilt or pain flashing over his face, before he collected himself. "He was after... the jinchūriki."

"He?" Hiruzen asked immediately, quickly stepping to the bed. "Explain."

"The medic," Naruto said, wincing. "The ritual – it was supposed to link me with someone else. Someone far away." He slowly raised his hand, but the wires with which it was strapped down prevented it. "Akatsuki."

"Kakashi – get Jiraiya." Hiruzen didn't pull his eyes away from the boy as the Jōnin left, sliding the door back closed as he did so. "Naruto, what happened? Tell me everything."

"I was hit with a shuriken, when I was out training, so I came here, since I was bleeding all over-" He paused. "Old man, why am I tied down?"

"Please continue," Hiruzen said softly, putting his hand on the boy's arm. "When we figure out what happened, I'll let you out."

Naruto groaned and wriggled back and forth in his bonds, but reluctantly continued at last. "I got here, you know, figured I could find a medic that could at least talk to me. This one guy seemed nice, he asked me to come with. It was busy in the halls so I figured it was fine."

"Mr. Ryosuke," Hiruzen said easily. "We have recovered his remains."

Naruto flinched. "He – he tended to my wound for a bit, asked me some stuff." He turned away, pressing his eyes closed. "He just – attacked me. One second he was fine, and the next I couldn't move, and he was cutting at me with something sharp. I screamed but nobody could hear."

Hiruzen sighed. "The medic attacked you? Not someone else?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know what but – it was like he was someone else. The fox got really angry, and his chakra came out of the seal. I mean, I thought that maybe it would work, right? It burns. So when he put me on that seal on the ground, I pushed everything I could into it. All my chakra."

"He was like someone else, you said?" Hiruzen glanced at the door. "How do you mean?"

"It was – like he couldn't control his body." Naruto shivered. "Can I – have a sip of water, please?"

"Of course." Hiruzen quickly filled a cup with a swift combination of hand seals; a very helpful skill in a pinch. "Naruto – we found Mr. Ryosuke when he was already dead. Can you give me any details on what he said? You mentioned Akatsuki."

"That's what he said," Naruto agreed. "Akatsuki – the dawn something. He went on about the Tailed Beasts, about the Kyūbi. Said he wanted to extract it from me. I think the seal – it was supposed to keep it locked up temporarily, or something like that, even when I was dead!"

Hiruzen's thoughts raced as he considered this new information. If stealing the Tailed Beasts was indeed the motive here, then the group that Jiraiya had mentioned was already active, years before anyone suspected. If they were locking tailed beasts into objects – even dead bodies – that couldn't possibly be for the long term. The village had to be ready to face this threat, and a lot earlier than he had expected.

Still – even assuming that the medic had been the attacker, a scenario he had not really considered, that left open another mystery.

"Who was the third person in that room, Naruto?"

Naruto looked up warily. "The third person, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen frowned. "You never call me that, Naruto. Not unless you think you've done something you shouldn't. Out with it."

The long silence that followed was interrupted when Kakashi returned, the Toad Sage right behind him. The man immediately walked to Naruto's side, his expression grave.

"Akatsuki is active," Hiruzen said easily. "One tried to take the Kyūbi from right under our noses. I suspect we will find clues on the body. I'd suggest looking for possible mind-control jutsu."

"He mentioned someone called – Kisame, I think." Naruto said with a frown.

"Hoshigaki Kisame," Jiraiya observed glumly. "Confirmed member of Akatsuki. That's not something that the common people would know. I think we're looking at the genuine article here." He shook his head. "Kid, what the hell did you do to that medic?"

"He came after me!" Naruto exclaimed. "What are you blaming me for?"

"I saw the body, kid. That guy doesn't have anything left but pulverized bones and torn organs. You really went to town on him." He pulled a face. "I'd be impressed if I wasn't so disgusted."

"You didn't do that," Hiruzen observed. "Did you?"

Naruto was silent for a long time. "Will – will you promise not to hurt him?"

"Him?"

"He saved my life," Naruto said, eyes haunted. "Please?"

That was what Asuma had told him Naruto had said repeatedly, right before collapsing: the boy had repeatedly referenced to someone saving his life. Hiruzen leaned closer. "Why would we want to hurt this person, Naruto?"

Naruto fidgeted. "Because he's not from Konoha. He's from Suna. He wasn't supposed to be in the village at all." He looked uneasily at the men around his bed. "You won't hurt him just for saving me, right? I mean, it's sort of against the rules, but that's not too terrible, right?"

Hiruzen glanced at Jiraiya with a frown. "We are allies with Suna, at preset. I will hear this person out, at least."

Naruto closed his eyes. "It was Gaara."

"The Kazekage's kid?" Jiraiya asked immediately, gaping. "You mean that guy is here? The stories about that one are all over the place - supposed to be a very violent boy who avoids the village proper..."

"That's sort of true," Naruto said begrudgingly. "He saved me - he said he was already near the village, and he heard me." He glanced up, looking directly at the Toad Sage. "He sensed me, knew I was in trouble. The Kyūbi was crying out and the Ichibi answered, is what I understand of it."

"He's a jinchūriki," Hiruzen said in realization. His eyes lit up in understanding. "You told me that you could sense the others, but it works in reverse, too? Where is he, now?"

"Outside the walls, away from the village," Naruto said, glancing away. "He knew he wasn't supposed to be in here, so he left right after to come back properly. Please don't hurt him."

Jiraiya frowned. "Sensei, this reminds me of that letter."

Hiruzen recalled the message that the Kazekage had sent to Jiraiya clearly. His fellow Kage had clearly informed him of possible traitors within the Leaf, which seemed even more plausible after these events. The letter also included a promise to send someone who was undeniably a true member of Suna to show their good faith – and who else would fit but their jinchūriki? Even if he was violent or unhinged, he was still a powerful asset of the Sand that they were willingly sending over. This was a lot quicker than he's expected the Kazekage to act.

"We'll need to weed out any Akatsuki plants as soon as possible, to prevent something lik this from happening again," he said at last. "If Ryosuke was an ally of these terrorists, or controlled by them, there are probably more that we haven't found yet." He turned away. "Naruto, when you have recovered, you will bring me this Gaara. Though it seems he might have saved your life, he remains a trespasser on our ground, and I will want a full explanation."

Naruto gave a subdued nod.

"I will go visit the morgue. Ryosuke's autopsy has just become high priority." Hiruzen's expression softened as he looked back at the bed. "Rest up, and we'll fix this. I will leave you someone to speak to, if you need to." He glanced meaningfully at Kakashi. "When this has all been cleared up, you'll be free to go."

"You bet, old man," Naruto said, a weak smile appearing. "I still want that C-rank."

Naruto shuddered as the Hokage left, leaving only Jiraiya and Kakashi.

That had gone both better and worse than he had hoped. When he had woken up to a rush of strange memories, he had been confused on where they had come from. He had not realized that any of his clones still survived after all that had happened, and it turned out they had been very busy.

The memories were odd, to say the least. Aside from Gaara behaving rather calmly and collected for the serial killing monster that he remembered, there were the clones' assumptions that bothered him. They seemed to believe that he had sacrificed Ryosuke, a Konoha shinobi, to save his own life. That instead of the medic actively using a ritual to transfer the curse onto himself, he had actively used it on said medic to stick around.

It was disturbing; he had barely thought about such a scenario, but his clones were perfectly willing to assume that he would sink that low, and quickly. The clones were him, so did he really think so poorly of himself? Did he really believe that he was capable of sacrificing people just to survive? He couldn't shake the feeling that the assumption wasn't such a bad one.

Orochimaru was still out there, as were most of the members of Akatsuki, and more enemies besides those. If he died here in the hospital, things would never be better than he remembered, only worse. There would be nobody to stop most of the events that had yet to happen. But would he have forced someone to finish the ritual used on him, even if he knew what it entailed?

Chillingly, he realized he wasn't sure about that. He knew he had gotten colder over time, more willing to kill for the job, but to murder your own village's people went beyond that. How many lives was it worth to extend his own life for some greater good that he wasn't sure would pan out? Could he afford to die so easily, to save one person, when he knew that his presence could save far more in the long run? He wasn't sure what to think, and that was a scary concept to deal with.

The assumption of his guilt had led right into the clone's plans, and as such he was forced to act along with it, lest he ruin something. He had to play Ryosuke off as the aggressor, and it pained him to do so. Talking his way around the facts to the Hokage's face, not to mention Kakashi's, felt worse than before. Still, he couldn't afford to falter now.

Now, his clones would take care of the rest. One was messing with Ryosuke's body, linking it to Akatsuki, and the other was placed outside the walls, putting on another show. Gaara would be found soon enough after the Hokage contacted his ANBU, and the clone, disguised as a Suna Jōnin, would take off after 'delivering' him to the gates. It would make sense with Gaara's reputation that nobody would want to be too close to him.

Gaara was acting in a way that made little sense, but if he was playing along with this thing, he could wait to figure that out until he was in the clear. Yes, his seal was blocked most of the time, which shut up Shukaku, but that couldn't have such a large effect in such a short time, could it? Perhaps he was simply biding his time until the real him was in range, to get revenge? It seemed a little unreasonable, even for Gaara.

The seal he was on, Naruto realized, was almost like a drug. With it, Gaara could think clearly, and the boy had a powerful mind, given his ability to lead a village at a young age. He had the potential to be Kazekage, and now that the Ichibi's loudness was shoved to the side, that potential could shine through. Perhaps he had figured that out; perhaps Gaara was really searching for a way to have both his sand and a clear head - a permanent seal.

"You look like you're in pain," Kakashi said after a while, his one eye focusing on the nasty-looking gashes on Naruto's arms and legs. "Do these still hurt?"

"Just thinking too hard," Naruto joked. "I'll be up by morning. Kyūbi healing, you know. He doesn't like it when his packaging gets damaged."

Jiraiya guffawed. "Kid, you should take it easy. Being attacked within the village is a big deal. I think there will be a lot more ANBU around for a while, especially when you and your team are training. I'd take the time to rest up, before we get into the mess of this Gaara's arrival."

"You know, now Team 7's on standby again, and just when some C-ranks were trickling in." Kakashi pouted. "I don't think we'll see any soon, if this keeps up."

"That's nonsense," Naruto blurted. "I was caught alone, that's why they got me. If you'd been there, I'd be fine! The same is true for Pervy Sage, isn't it?" He shook his head. "We should do more missions, not fewer. If we're out of the village, nobody can just plan for our daily schedule, right?"

"Brat's got a point," Jiraiya muttered. "I'd still say that you should put your whole wall full of seals to keep unwanted bastards out of your home, if you want to sleep easy again. Honestly, if you can get attacked in the hospital, you could be attacked anywhere. I'll help you prepare those."

"I will consider what to say to Sasuke and Sakura," Kakashi said. "You should know that they both came to me to ask what was going on. They wanted to know if you were alright when they heard you were in the hospital, too."

"Sasuke probably hopes I broke all my bones and wants to gloat over it, and Sakura goes wherever the bastard goes," Naruto responded lightly, smirking. "Just tell those two not to worry, right? I'm still kicking."

Kakashi smiled. "I'll go find them." He flicked his hitai-ate and winked as he slipped out of the door.

As they were left alone, Naruto looked uneasily at his last visitor. Jiraiya gazed down on Naruto with a serious expression. "I think it's about time we discuss what you know about the other hosts, and about Akatsuki, wouldn't you agree?"

Author's Note: I think the fact that he's got to confide in -someone- is getting pretty clear at this point after the near-disaster that happened. That said, next chapter deals with Gaara's side of things, has Danzo, and Team 7.

Cheers. :)