Ok so I know it has been a looooong time since I updated this story. I really just haven't had the time nor inspiration to update either of my current fics. So sorry for the delay, but I didn't want to put out something half baked. Anyhow, enough rambling from me. Please enjoy the next chapter of Inferno.

Also… If you haven't figured it out by now, I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto does… and I am jealous of that fact.

Chapter 15: In the Darkness, there is Light

He hurried up the flights of stairs trying to reach the first of the floors that had been damaged in the explosion. Taking steps two and three at a time, Naruto all but sprinted to the affected floors above him, leaving the rest of his crew behind. Within just barely a minute he was at the 5th floor. Naruto pulled his glove off and pressed the back of his hand to the door, checking for heat. When he was satisfied that there was none, he placed his glove back on his hand and opened the door. Black smoke billowed out as a result.

"This isn't good. Smoke this far down only means that the upper floors are full with it already. I better make this quick."

He turned and yelled back down the stairwell.

"Cap! I'm going ahead, I have a radio, checking floor 5 for survivors, there is some smoke on the 4th floor… can you guys check that floor and the ones below? I'll call if I find anything."

He heard an 'aight' and then ducked in the door. Naruto weaved his way down the hallways of the Government Plaza. Running his hand against the wall he came across something hard. He tugged on it and it fell with little effort onto the floor. He reached up to his helmet and turned on his flashlight. The object he pried loose was an evacuation plan for the building. He took notice to how many rooms there were.

"This is gunna take forever. Maybe I should have asked Kakashi to come help me before sending him to the other floors."

Lately he had been having more encounters with the spirit that resided within him. They would occasionally talk about who he was in his previous life and how he changed the world in that era. Thinking back on all those conversations reminded him of one thing he had learned. He decided to try something he remembered from some of the visions that the Kyuubi would show him.

"Man I hope this works…"

He closed his eyes and focused on the spiritual pressure he now felt in the center of himself. It was ever-present and very noticeable now that he had better access and was used to how it felt within him. He concentrated on gathering some of that energy and imagined compressing it into a ball at his navel. Once he felt he had enough energy compressed, he opened his eyes and allowed his mental hold on the energy to drop. The effect was almost immediate. The energy pulsed from his body and went in every direction like a shockwave. As the wave washed over everything in its path, Naruto could get a sense of everything within range as if he were seeing it with his own eyes. Just below him on the 4th floor he could "see" Kakashi and the other two guys on his crew moving room to room, looking for any stranded survivors. The pulse continued moving until it reached the roof of the building. Naruto's eyes widened when he received feedback of one person still in the building, two floors above him. He quickly ran to the stairwell and made his way to the 7th floor. The smoke was getting heavier so he placed his SCBA mask on and tuned on his air supply. Once he made it to the 7th floor he checked the door for heat like before and then entered. It was black with smoke. He got low to the ground and sent another pulse. With the feedback he received he made his way down the hallway as if he could see quite clearly in spite of the fact that, at this moment, he couldn't actually see a damn thing. As he neared the office where the unconscious woman lay, Naruto heard a loud and long groan. Instinctively he vaulted himself into the office just as the fake ceiling dropped down and blocked off the only way out of the office.

"Well this is just great… could it get any worse?" he said to no one in particular. Almost immediately a large portion of the floor above collapsed in on top of the section of fake ceiling that fell before it, bringing with it a large mass of burning debris from the floor above.

'Great, so now I am trapped with an unconscious woman, on the 7th floor, with no way out. THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I PLANNED MY DAY!'

He groaned, knowing that complaining about the problem wasn't going to solve it for him. He considered his options. In reality there really was only one, but it was suicide at best. He looked at the window, then down at the rolling office chair. Quickly he decided that the two just HAD to meet and threw the chair through the window. The room was immediately flooded with light and the black smoke started to evacuate out of the newly broken window. He checked the woman for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. He scooped her up and walked to the window, looking to see if there was anything close he might be able to jump to. Naturally, lady luck was not on his side today. He turned his head from side to side, looking for another option.

'Hiraishin'

He had no idea what that word was, but somehow he also instinctively knew what it meant, and more importantly, knew what he had to do. He looked down at the woman in his care; she was breathing, but shallow and rapid. She needed medical attention immediately. Turning toward the window again he walked right to the very edge. He looked out and caught sight of a pink head of hair. Almost as if he had called her name she looked up and their eyes met. His brow was furrowed, but he still managed to give her a cheesy grin before he jumped, the woman still in his arms.

*****Break*****

Sakura made her way to the incident location. There were emergency vehicles parked to either side of the street for several blocks. Deciding that she had gone as far as she could by car, she parked, changed into a pair of tennis shoes, grabbed her ALS bag out of the back of her car and started walking to the Plaza. She heard someone pull up behind her and turned to see Ino parking her car right behind her own.

"Ino, thank God… I thought I would be doing this by myself." Sakura said, a sigh of relief escaping her red lips.

Her blonde friend and confidante gave her a wry grin, "What? And let you have ALL the fun? As if."

The duo made their way through the maze of debris that littered the ground outside the back of the Plaza. The sound of the crowd that had gathered could be heard around the corner. Sakura and Ino almost rounded the corner when the pinkette felt compelled to stop. Something told her to look up and when she did, she met a set of deep cerulean eyes looking right back at her. Her blonde savior looked her right in the eyes, smiled and then did the last thing she thought she would ever imagine. He jumped.

"NARUTO!" She yelled, gaining the attention of her platinum blonde friend who wasn't too far ahead of her.

Ino came to a screeching halt and turned around to see a panic stricken look on Sakura's face. As she turned to run toward her, something suddenly was in her way. A wall of bright yellow that hadn't been there before was now blocking her view of Sakura.

Both females looked in shock as Naruto seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Naruto looked at each of them, his expression unreadable. That was when both women noticed that he was carrying someone.

"She has suffered severe smoke inhalation. She needs treatment." He stated as if it weren't already obvious.

Both women just looked at him like he had a third arm growing out of his forehead.

"NOW!" he yelled. That got their attention.

Sakura dropped her bag and immediately started to administer oxygen with a non re-breather mask from her bag.

Naruto watched as Sakura tended to the unconscious woman on the sidewalk. Ino moved into his path of sight.

"Naruto… how… what WAS that you did. How can you just appear out of nowhere? I want… no I NEED answer-" Ino was cut off by a loud explosion.

Everyone's attention was diverted to the Plaza. Several of the windows on the 4th floor had blown out and vented heavy smoke and fire.

Naruto suddenly felt a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Kakashi!" He yelled.

He turned back to the two women. "Look, I can't hang around and explain everything right now. I have to get back in there and save my friends. I have a bad feeling that they need me right now."

Ino looked up at him, "And just HOW do you intend to get back up there?"

He turned to her and smiled. "The same way I got down here."

He bent at his knees and felt that familiar tug of energy. Once he was sure it was where he wanted it, he pushed off the ground and jumped into the air… and vanished!

Sakura, who was diligently working on her patient looked at Ino and saw the look of shock and disbelief on her face. She let out a tired sigh.

'Ino, I know you have a lot of questions right now about a lot of unexplainable things you have just seen, but right now we have to focus on the people here who need us. I swear Naruto and I will sit and explain it when this is all over.'

"Don't worry about it fore-head. I'll just interrogate you later when this is all over. You better be ready to spill the beans… You and that blonde hunk of yours." She turned and winked at Sakura only to see the pinkette looking at her with shock all over her face. She shrugged it off. "What? Surprised I was actually paying attention to what you said for once?"

Sakura, still in a state of disbelief herself could only shake her head.

"Ino… I didn't SAY anything."

Ino paled. "I guess we both have some explaining to do."

*****BREAK*****

Naruto jumped through the hole left from the explosion. Inside he was met with more thick black smoke and intense heat.

"Kakashi! Where are you?" He frantically pawed at the rubble, trying to find his Captain, long-time friend, and father figure. The smoke was thick and Naruto had forgotten to put his mask back on, but he could care less right now. He HAD to find his crew. He shoved aside large pieces of fallen ceiling and chunks of concrete and rebar. Naruto was coughing and his eyes were watering, partly from the smoke, but mostly from tears and worry. He was about to give up when his hand snagged a piece of cloth. His hopes shot up and he started clearing the debris even faster. He finally cleared the trash away revealing his plug man and best friend, Neji. He was burned pretty badly on one side of his face and his left arm was bent at an angle that clearly defied normal human anatomy. Naruto quickly assessed his vital signs. He was still breathing, although it was shallow. His mask had been blown off his face, though some of the rubber still remained, melted into his cheek and lower jaw. Naruto used what was left of Neji's nomex hood as a quick field bandage and pulled it up to try and stop some of the bleeding from the man's head.

"Neji, it's me Naruto. Look man, this is gunna hurt a lot, but I have to get you outta here!"

Neji only barely acknowledged him with a grunting cough. Quickly Naruto hefted him up onto his shoulders and Neji screamed in pain. Naruto winced, but there was no time to be delicate. With the lack of structural integrity on this floor, it wouldn't be long before it collapsed into the next floor under it; but what really had Naruto panicking was that he still hadn't found Kakashi yet. Naruto scrambled to the doorway leading to the stairwell.

Quickly he kicked the door open and started down the first flight of stairs. Before he could reach the next floor he was greeted by another engine company who was on their way up to help Kakashi and his crew.

Naruto quickly handed Neji off to the crew. "Get him downstairs and to rehab! He's hurt real bad!"

He turned and started back up the stairs, determined to find Kakashi before it was too late.

One of the men reached out and grabbed the back of his coat. "Naruto, wait! Chief has ordered us to pull out. It's getting too dangerous. He has been trying to raise you on the radio, but you guys weren't answering. You have to get out now! The whole place is about to go under!"

"I lost my radio in the debris upstairs. Look I don't have time to argue, but Captain Kakashi is still up there and I need to find him. Get Neji downstairs! I'll be right behind you! Now GO!"

With that Naruto disappeared up the stairwell, the other crew taking the wounded Neji down to be treated.

****BREAK****

Naruto made it back to where he had found Neji and resumed his search. His determination renewed at finding one of his crew, now he just had to find Kakashi. He dug furiously through the rubble, snatching away large blocks of cement as though they were just made of Styrofoam. He pulled away more chunks and then there was a boot.

"Kakashi!" Naruto yelled and quickly made short work of the debris around him. One final piece of concrete lay across the man's chest. Naruto went to move it when a hand shot up and gripped his arm.

"Naruto…" A weak voice strained.

"Cap, thank God I found you. I was freaking out thinking you might have died or someth-"

"Naruto stop." He pointed to the block sitting on his chest. "Look."

Naruto looked and that is when he finally saw it. There were four pieces of steel rebar sticking out of the top of the concrete block. Naruto hadn't seen them at first since they were bent to the side and his eyes were obscured by the smoke. His eyes widened and started to water at the implications. He slowly moved to look behind his Captain, hoping and praying that he wouldn't see what he was sure he would see. Then, he saw the blood, and the rest of the four steel rebar pieces sticking out of Kakashi's back and left side. Naruto stifled a gasp and almost vomited right there.

"Naruto." Kakashi's voice broke him from his stupor. "This place isn't going to last much longer. Get out of here before you die too."

"What do you mean 'too'? You aren't dead yet and I don't intend to let you." The blonde started to cry at this point.

"Naruto. It's ok. I knew when I joined the department that something like this could happen. I knew the risks. I am ok with this, though it isn't the way I wanted to go… but you have so much life ahead of you. Don't die because you tried to save me." A stab of pain lanced through him and he threw his head back in response. He grabbed Naruto's shoulder to get his attention. The floor was creaking and it would only be a matter of minutes now before the floor collapsed.

"Naruto?"

The blonde didn't meet his gaze but answered.

"Yeah?"

"Go."

Kakashi leaned his head back waiting for the end. He quickly realized, however, that Naruto had not moved. He looked over to see that Naruto was still looking down at the ground, his hands clenched at his sides and trembling.

"Naruto, you need to get out of here right no-"

"NO! I will not leave you behind. I will not lose my precious people. That is my nindo!"

Then there was a bright flash of light and Kakashi brought up his hand to shield his eye. When he dropped his hand he could not begin to describe what he saw. No longer was Naruto standing in front of him. What once was Naruto was now a man standing in a flowing golden coat. He practically radiated sunlight, yet it didn't burn him. He looked as if he was on fire, yet he felt no heat.

"I will not leave you here to die Kakashi-sensei."

'Sensei?' I must be dying. This doesn't make sense. Maybe I am just imagining all this and Naruto has already left like I asked. What he saw next defied all reasoning and reality.

Carefully, Naruto placed a hand on a section of rebar that was between the concrete block and Kakashi's chest. A warm glow emanated from his hand and the section in his palm dissolved. He repeated this process with all four sections of rebar. When the last section Naruto was dissolving was finished, he expected the concrete block to drop on him from the weight, but Naruto casually threw it to the side with a flick of his hand as if it were nothing.

If it weren't for the fact that he had four steel bars running through his chest, Kakashi would have laughed himself silly.

'So this must be what it is like to die. How strange.' And with that, he closed his eyes, resigned to his fate.

Naruto wasn't finished yet. He watched as he placed his hands in a position that was completely alien to him, but at the same time as familiar as breathing.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

His own eyes widened when he saw a copy of himself standing beside him. He marveled at the clone and what he must look like.

"Wow! I look cool."

The clone looked at him and a tick mark appeared on his forehead.

"Idiot. Kakashi-sensei is dying and all you can think of is how cool you look. How the hell did you ever survive the academy?" The copy sighed and facepalmed. "Look. Now is not the time. We need to get him out of here and fast. I don't think this place will hold out any longer. You need a fast exit. Pick him up and follow me. Don't question it… just do it."

Naruto complied… with himself, and picked up Kakashi. The clone then held out his hand. Naruto curiously watched and his eyes widened when he saw a blue ball of energy gather in the clone's hand. It rotated and condensed over and over until it was a vibrating swirling mass of what could only be described as 'energy'. Then the clone smiled at him and slammed the blue sphere into the floor and fell through. Totally confused now, Naruto leaned to the side and looked down the fresh hole in the floor to see the clone still dropping through each floor, straight to the bottom floor. The clone then hit the bottom and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Without warning, Naruto's senses tingled and he was suddenly assaulted with memories of what the clone just did… almost as if he had done it himself. He then remembered what the clone said and trusted that it would work out. He jumped into the hole and prepared for the impact he was almost certain would at least break his legs. He hit the ground and the floor gave slightly under his weight, creating a crater, but his legs held fast and, to his astonishment, he was completely fine. As quickly as it all happened, the golden glow that he was giving off blinked out and he was back in his normal fire gear. He suddenly felt very tired and light-headed. He walked forward to the main doors to the building and stepped out into the sunlight. Then only one thing was left on his mind.

"Sakura, HELP!"