AN:

Sorry for the wait guys and gals, but here is the next chapter in my story Inferno.

I hope you all are enjoying it so far.

Again, I am open to any criticism, so long as you offer a way to try and make it better and not just a flame.

Thanks for the reviews thus far, keep them coming. If you please, suggest this story to your friends or anyone else you think may like to read this story.

Without any further delay, I present Chapter 7 of Inferno titled: A Hero Emerges.

Naruto bared his fangs as he stared into the blood red eyes of the man in front of him. His reasoning had left him the moment the presence of power took hold of his mind. All that remained was a deep bloodlust that he intended to sate by killing this man. Nothing else would suffice. The Uchiha watched the abomination in front of him, disgusted by the complete loss of humanity displayed in front of him, but there was also another feeling. It was something that the Uchiha had never felt until this day, this very evening, in this encounter, that could only have happened by the interventions of fate.

It was fear. Pure and unadulterated.

His hands trembled slightly, but his countenance remained stoic. He watched the demonic figure in front of him, his strange eyes scanning every inch of Naruto's body, looking for the subtle muscle twitches that were precursor to movement. To his eyes, Naruto was eerily still. Then, his eye caught the slightest twitch and he reacted immediately, jumping to the right as a clawed hand swiped the air where his head was just a second before. Had he not moved, Sasuke was certain he would have lost his head.

Naruto looked confused. How had he missed? He was certain he was fast enough to land the blow, but it never even touched the Uchiha. He emitted a growl as he refocused on the figure before him. But just as soon as his eyes set on the man, he vanished from sight. The only warning he had to the attack from behind was the sound of metal slicing through the air. Naruto ducked in time to see a hand pass over his head, firmly clutching a very sharp knife. A few severed pieces of his hair flitted to the ground, indicating just how close the knife came to making contact with his flesh. He immediately whirled around and threw a hard left hook; only to have it met with an equally resilient block from Sasuke's other hand. The two stared at each other before separating and preparing for the next move. Naruto was standing under one of the lights, and sudden realization dawned on the Uchiha's face.

"You're that idiot from the store." He said, more than asked. "Good, this will make things easier."

Naruto was confused by this strange interaction all of a sudden and was momentarily distracted; trying to discern what it was the Uchiha was talking about. Sasuke noticed the slight hesitation and was about to make his move when heard the sound of police sirens entering the parking garage.

"You're lucky I don't want any bad publicity dobe. Otherwise, you'd be dead. You and I will finish this another time." The Uchiha smirked and vanished from sight just as Naruto leapt at him.

Naruto roared in frustration that his 'prey' had gotten away. The voice in his head began to speak soothingly to him.

'Easy child. You will have your chance. For now, know that I am with you. I will help you kill that Uchiha bastard. Go now. The pink-haired girl is waking. It would not do well for her to see you like this.'

'Who are you and how is it that I can hear you in my head.'

'All will be answered in time. For now, leave me be, I must rest.'

The presence faded and Naruto felt incredibly drained. He immediately collapsed onto the pavement, holding himself up on all-fours, breathing heavily. The sirens were getting louder. He crawled across the floor of the garage, making his way over to Sakura. He scooped her up in his arms and she whimpered at the contact.

"Shhh, it's ok Sakura. It's me, Naruto. I'm going to take you to the hospital." He cradled her in his arms and started for the elevator.

Recognition quickly spread across her face and her arms quickly wrapped his neck in a tense embrace.

"No… P-please, just t-take me home. I wanna' go home."

Naruto frowned. The EMT in him said he should take her to the hospital to get checked out, but the Fire Fighter in him just wanted to make her feel safe. If going home was what would do that for her, then who was he to argue. He carried her all the way to a city bus stop, paid both fares and kept a firm embrace on the shivering, shaken woman. He looked over at the pinkette, who was still staring into nothingness. His heart broke that such a nice girl experienced something so vile. He would take care of that bastard even if it cost him his last breath.

Sakura just sat in silence. Her mind constantly replaying the images in her head like a bad horror flick stuck in the same scene, repeating with no end. She looked over at the man that came to save her. The first thing she noticed was the deep blue of his eyes. Her gaze traveled down the curves of his facial features and noticed his mouth was drawn into a deep frown. She always remembered him smiling such a carefree smile each time she had encountered him, so why such a dramatic change? Again, she was assaulted with the haunting memories of what happened no more than an hour ago. The hot breath on her face. The unwanted and rough kisses tracked down the length of her neck. Worst of all, the loss of her sense of security from a man- no, he was no man. A vile snake dressed as a man, pretending to be a man, but still a slithering, disgusting snake. She looked back up to the sad countenance of her hero and noticed his look of worry was still intense and solely focused on her. She looked away, unable to bear his gaze any longer.

"Please don't look at me. No one will want to look at me after tonight."

She felt dirty, used and discarded. She felt as though she no longer held any worth. She felt completely open and vulnerable to the world. Fresh tears began to fall from her eyes as her anguish was renewed.

"Sakura."

The pinkette continued crying.

"Sakura."

Naruto watched as the girl closed her eyes and cried harder than he had ever seen anyone cry before. He placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in to comfort her. She pulled away at first, alarmed by the contact that drew her out of her world of sorrow, but settled back into his embrace and cried even more.

Naruto ran his fingers through her pink locks while whispering calming words, trying to soothe her.

"Don't worry Sakura, I'll get you home and make sure you are taken care of."

He thought for a moment about the situation. He was still bleeding from his fight with Sasuke. He also had a girl who was mentally fragile and will, despite the notion that he is helping her, probably have a mental breakdown as a result of being in her apartment alone with a male. He only knew a little bit about the emotional effects of rape from his medical courses on the fire department, but he knew enough to know that this girl was going to need female company for tonight and for a while after. He looked back down to the girl as an idea formed in his head.

"Sakura, do you have a friend that can stay with you tonight? A girl I mean?"

She only nodded her head and muttered, "Ino."

"Is her number in your phone? Can I call her?"

Again the girl only dumbly nodded to him as she continued to whimper and sob. She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, handing it to the blonde.

He flipped it open and began scrolling through the phone book.

Ino walked into the break room. It had been a long night. She was hungry and tired. She walked to the shift refrigerator and pulled out her Tupperware container that contained her meal for the night. She heated it in the microwave and sat at the table. She was just about to take a bite when she heard a buzzing sound coming from her locker. She muttered something about never getting to enjoy a hot meal and pulled open her locker, pulling out her cell phone. She flipped it open and looked at the caller ID. Sakura.

'Sakura should be home asleep already. Why is she calling me at the early hours of the morning.'

She flipped open the phone.

"Hello?"

"Dr. Ino?" Came a worried male voice.

Ino's heart sank. Why was a man calling her from Sakura's phone? And why did he sound so upset?

Ino quickly recovered her composure.

"Who is this?" She asked, worried for her friend.

"Dr. Ino! Thank God you answered! It's me Naruto, the Fire Fighter from a while ago. Listen I don't have a whole lot of time to explain, but you need to get over here to Sakura's apartment now. She's been… hurt."

Ino's eyes widened as she wondered what he meant by 'hurt.'

"Alright, I'll be right over."

Ino ran to the nurse's station and grabbed the charge nurse.

"You are in charge till I get back. Sakura has been hurt, so I am leaving to go see what this is all about. I'll be back when I have the situation under control. If there is an emergency, call Dr. Tsunade. Explain to her why I am gone, she will be glad to come in if needed.

Ino made it to Sakura's new apartment in record time. She walked in to find Sakura curled up in the fetal position in Naruto's lap, sobbing like a child and shivering as if she were freezing despite the blankets covering her body.

The blonde looked up to the new arrival and placed his finger over his lips, asking her to be quiet. Ino nodded and then gestured to the kitchen. Naruto patted Sakura's head.

"Sakura, I will be just over here in the kitchen, Ino is here and I need to talk to her."

The pink haired girl just nodded and curled up in the warm spot left on the couch cushion by the blonde man.

Ino gave Naruto a stern look. She crossed her arms under her breasts as she waited for his answer.

"What happened?" was all she could say, worry written on her face as she glanced back over to her friend crying on the couch.

"Ino, look… I don't know an easy way to say this, but Sakura was raped tonight."

He continued with the following events and the fight, though he left out the bits about how his power surfaced again.

To say Ino was shocked was an understatement. Her jaw hung open and tears started to brim her eyes as those few horrific words settled into her brain. She turned and immediately headed for her friend when a hand grabbed her arm. She turned to see Naruto looking at her with a look of concern, and something else. She couldn't be sure being in the emotional state she now found herself in, but it looked like anger- no this was something deeper than anger. This was a look of pure hatred.

"Naruto, what is it? I need to go to Sakura now."

He relinquished his hold on her arm. The next words he said rocked her world even more than the last.

"Her attacker was the Uchiha bastard."

Ino suddenly was no longer just upset. Now… she was absolutely livid!

"That sorry motherfucker!" Ino balled her fists at her side. "I'll kill that worthless piece of shit."

"Ino calm down." Naruto waved his hands trying to get her attention and calm her down. "While I agree that the teme needs his balls ripped off, right now your focus needs to be Sakura. While I feel like I should stay to help her, right now she needs a woman to stay with her tonight, not a man. Once she starts coming around, she isn't going to want anything to do with a man being anywhere near her."

Naruto walked over to Sakura and kneeled down by the couch, and ran his fingers through her hair, soothing her.

"Sakura, Ino is here and she is going to tend to you and make sure you get better. I think it would be best if I left so that she can take care of you."

He went to stand and leave when he felt a hand reach out for his and grip it tight.

"Please don't leave me. It's not safe."

"It's going to be ok Sakura, but I should leave for tonight." She still had a firm grip on his hand. He sighed, "Look, if it makes you feel safer, I'll stay across the street at the station tonight, I have to work tomorrow anyway. This way if you really need me, I'll be just across the street."

She nodded and let her hand go limp, releasing her hold on him.

Ino walked him out of the apartment.

"Naruto?"

He turned back to the platinum blonde standing in the doorway. Even with the tears still fresh on her face, she was smiling at him. She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. Ino backed into the door to the apartment, a blush on her cheeks.

"Thank you so much for taking care of her. You are a great guy Naruto, I can tell she likes you a lot."

Naruto just stood there with a dumb look on his face and listened as she continued.

"I can tell you like her too. Just do me a favor."

Naruto gave her a funny look, confusion written on his face as he waited for her request.

"Be careful with her. I don't think I need to impress upon you how important a friend she is to me."

Naruto only nodded and turned, knowing that was all she had to say.

Once Naruto was out of sight, Ino closed the door to Sakura's apartment and locked it. Tomorrow was going to be rough.

Something bothered her about Naruto though. She saw the dried blood on his face and hands, but there were no cuts or bruises. The blood patterns suggested they came from injuries he should have had, especially if the fight was as bad as he said it was…

'Why didn't he have any injuries though? Something is missing from his story that he didn't tell me about.'

As she went to Sakura to help her to the bathroom she could only repeat the same question in her mind.

'Naruto, who are you?'