AN: Special thanks to Sakiku once again. She really helped me with some of these scenes.
As always, all reviews, criticisms, suggestions, etc are welcome.
'THOUGHTS'
LINEBREAKS=CHANGE OF SCENE/POV
Give me your trust, said the Shinobi.
On my shoulders I support the sky.
Trust me to know and to do what is best,
And I will take care of the rest.
But trust is the color of a dark seed growing.
Trust is the color of a heart's blood flowing.
Trust is the color of a soul's last breath.
Trust is the color of death.
Give me your trust, said the Daimyo on their throne,
For I must bear the burden all alone.
Trust me to lead and to judge and to rule,
And no man will think you a fool.
But trust is the sound of the grave-dog's bark.
Trust is the sound of betrayal in the dark.
Trust is the sound of a soul's last breath.
Trust is the sound of death.
Modified excerpt from "The Wheel of Time"
CHAPTER FIVE
Naruto stared at the Old Man in utter shock. The one person who had never hurt him… had just hurt him. He didn't understand. 'Why...how come...I thought he...no...NO...he cares about me...I-I love him...h-he's my only friend...what...I don't...why can't I trust...' These thoughts, and more, blurred through his head in a confused jumble that the child could hope to decipher.
Desperate for some sense of understanding, some foundation to keep him from crumbling, Naruto latched onto one of his errant thoughts and held tight until there was nothing left in his mind but that single though. 'I can't trust anyone…I can't.' Yes, that's it. No one could be trusted, not the Old Man, not the doctors or the ninjas…no one.
While Naruto pondered this new truth, his breathing calmed down to somewhat normal levels.
Seeing the child calming down somewhat, Sarutobi breathed a sigh of relief.
"Naruto," the Sandaime began, regaining the child's attention. "I'm sorry I hit you, Naruto. Are you alright?" Naruto just stared at him blankly.
After waiting a minute for an answer, Sarutobi moved a little closer to the silent child. "Naruto?" Still no answer.
Just as he opened his mouth to ask again, he caught a quiet whisper from the small child. "M'fine."
Somewhat relieved, Sarutobi carefully picked up the now unresisting child and carried him back to the bed before calling a nurse to hook him back up to the IV.
He watched Naruto as he just stared at the nurse, and while he didn't resist when she took his arm and inserted a fresh IV, there was a tenseness to him. Sarutobi couldn't help but be reminded of a wild animal backed into a corner, frozen yet ready to burst into movement at a moment's notice. Once the nurse finished and left the room again, Sarutobi sat next to the bed and began to question him.
"Naruto," he began gently. "I know this is hard, but I need you to tell me what happened yesterday." He was met by silence. "Naruto, please. I need to know, what happened to Takeshi and Susuki?" He watched as Naruto hugged his knees to his chest and just stared at him.
Misunderstanding the child's silence, he tried to reassure the boy. "It's okay Naruto, you can talk to me. What happened?" More silence and staring was all he received from the small blond.
Just as he was about to try again, he caught a faint whisper, so quiet he might have missed it if he hadn't been watching Naruto so intently.
"They hurt me…and I made them stop." were the soft-spoken words from the eerily quiet child.
Sarutobi barely held in a wince, before pressing for more information. "How did they hurt you, Naruto?" he asked gently. He received the same silence and staring as before, though Naruto answered a little quicker than the last time.
"Put stuff in my vidamins, said I hurt people…hit me." His hand rose to the large bruise adorning his face when he said the last one, all in that quiet, soft spoken way.
Sarutobi managed to keep his face a mask of gentle understanding, despite the rage and anger, as well as the sadness and regret that warred beneath the surface. "I'm so sorry Naruto, but I need to ask, was anyone else involved? Did you see anyone else? Did anything about that day seem unusual? Did anything out of the ordinary happen?"
Naruto seemed to think for a minute, giving Sarutobi a weighing look before whispering. "It was gone."
This caught his attention. "It, Naruto? What do you mean? What is it?"
Naruto just stared at him, "I dunno… I just feel it… cept when I woke up."
Sarutobi frowned "Can you describe it, Naruto? What exactly do you feel?"
The child seemed to think it over for a moment. "I dunno... kinda like somebody is staring at you really hard."
'Hmm... I wonder...' "So you feel like someone is watching you?" A shrug was the only answer Sarutobi received, so he decided to test his theory. "Tell me Naruto, did you feel this "watcher" just now?"
If Naruto could sense the Anbu just now, who's to say he couldn't sense his normal Anbu detail? They were instructed to stay out of sight and avoid direct contact with him. With Naruto's enhanced senses, perhaps he had always been subconsciously aware of the Anbu?
He focused on Naruto again as the child answered him. "Uh huh."
"How long have you felt this "watcher", Naruto?" Sarutobi asked.
Naruto just blinked owlishly at him and whispered with a shrug. "All the time."
Interesting. Such a skill could serve him well later in life…although…it would also make his surveillance even harder. And it certainly wouldn't help with the child's paranoia.
Based on what Naruto was saying, Nezumi hadn't been there when he had woken up; however, Tora confirmed that Nezumi had shown up for his guard shift. And he knew for a fact that Susuki never let Naruto sleep past seven thirty. That meant that whatever had happened to Nezumi occurred between six and seven thirty, assuming Tora was telling the truth and wasn't involved himself. 'Why can nothing be simple?' He sighed mentally.
Seeing Naruto lapse back into silence, Sarutobi decided the poor boy could use some sleep and that they should finish the interview in the morning.
"Alright Naruto, the nurse is going to give you something to help you sleep now, and we'll talk more in the morning okay?" He was answered with silence and that look again. As he carefully moved Naruto to a lying down position and lowered the bed, Sarutobi couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable about Naruto's seemingly unending silence.
Sighing to himself again, he called for the nurse and watched as she checked Naruto's chart before injecting a light sedative into the IV, while speaking in a generic polite tone. "Alright Sanada-san, you're going to feel a little sleepy, but don't worry it's just the- ."
"Uzumaki." There was that whisper again.
Both the nurse and Sarutobi looked in surprise at Naruto, who was staring at the ceiling now, seemingly ignoring the other occupants of the room.
The nurse looked to him uncertainly to make sure she wasn't hearing things. Sarutobi just nodded, keeping his eyes on Naruto. Understanding his nod, the nurse looked back to the child, "I'm sorry Sanada-san, what was that?" Sarutobi listened intently for Naruto's answer.
"My name…is Uzumaki…not…Sanada." He all but hissed that last word.
'Oh dear.' Sarutobi thought worriedly as he tried to run damage control. "Naruto, why don't you get some rest and we can talk about it more in the morning." He smiled gently at the young blond who continued to stare at the ceiling, not even glancing at him. Seeing the nurse frown at the child for seemingly ignoring the village's leader, Sarutobi cleared his throat to get her attention. "I trust that there is nothing else?"
The nurse smiled and bowed respectfully. "No Hokage-sama, I'm finished here."
"Very well." Sarutobi stood from his chair, trying to keep his back from cracking audibly. "I'll see you in the morning Naruto, alright?"
Once again, he was met with that unnatural silence.
Sighing, Sarutobi beckoned the nurse out of the room and closed the door.
Walking a short distance from the room, Sarutobi stopped and addressed the seemingly empty hallway. "Gama, I want you to stand guard over Naruto until I return."
"As you will, Hokage-sama." Came a soft voice from the shadows.
"Make no mistake, Gama. If anything happens to him on your watch, I will hold you personally responsible. Do I make myself clear?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
Nodding, Sarutobi continued down the hallway and left the hospital. 'Hopefully a night's rest will help Naruto return to normal. However, this whole situation makes me uneasy. Never has an assassination attempt come so close before. With the exception of the Hitode incident, every attack before this was thwarted without Naruto even being aware of them. Where are you Nezumi?' Growling at the course of his thoughts, Sarutobi headed back to his office, expecting a long night.
Naruto was lost in thought as he lay on the bed, staring sightlessly at the white ceiling of his hospital room. 'Why…why is everybody wanna hurt me? What I ever do ta them?' Rolling onto his right side, he felt a tug on the needle in his arm causing a stinging pain that was largely overridden by the throbbing of his ribs. "Owwie." he whimpered as he rolled back to his left and gazed at the needle.
'I wonder when the nurse is gonna give me that sleep thingy. All she did was put that needle in that tube. Stupid tube.' he thought as he frowned at the painful thing stuck in his arm. 'I don't see why I have ta have this stupid thing anyway, I'm not even thirsty.' That was the reason the Old Man said he had to have it the first time he came to the hospital. (1)
'I still don't get how I drink this stuff with my arm anyway…wait a minute… she put stuff in the tube…and my arm drinks outta the tube so…'
Suddenly, the Sanadas and their vitamins flashed through his mind, along with everything else they had done. Gripped by terror and paranoia, Naruto just barely stopped himself from screaming in sheer terror as he ripped the needle out of his arm, gasping in pain as he did so.
Sniffing as tears filled his eyes, Naruto grasped the crook of his arm while his blood flowed out onto the bed.
Rolling back onto his right side and curling up into a ball, Naruto quietly cried into his knees. He cried for the Sanadas, the couple that he had loved as his grandparents. Despite what they had done to him, he had loved them with everything his little heart could muster; they and to a slightly lesser extent the Old Man, had been his world.
Without them, he was lost and alone in the world once more. Never again would he run to the table for breakfast and call "morning" to his family. Never again would he practice throwing kunai and leaf floating with his Ojiisan. Never again would he sit on his Obaachan's lap and read his storybooks with her.
He thought he had been alone before the Sanadas. However having lived with them for the last six months, having been a part of their family, had shown him just what his life was missing, and losing them taught him exactly what it was to be truly alone.
The sadness and fear at being alone in a world that gave him nothing but pain overwhelmed him, and Naruto sobbed himself into a restless, nightmare-ridden sleep.
"Naruto-chan! Breakfast is ready!" echoed up the stairs.
"Coming!" Naruto called back as he ran down to the kitchen. As he ran to his place at the table, he looked to his Ojiisan who was hidden behind the morning newspaper. "Hey Ojiisan, lookie, lookie, I can make the leaf float!" Naruto grabbed a leaf- 'Weird… Obaachan never lets dirt and leafs in the house…'- and proceeded to make it spin just above the palm of his hand.
"Very good, Naruto." his Obaachan's voice reached him as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind.
Smiling with pride, Naruto tried to turn around to return the hug, but she squeezed even tighter, stopping him. In fact, her grip started to become uncomfortable as it became difficult to breath.
"Obaachan…you're hugging so tight, I can't breathe…Obaachan…" Gasping, Naruto began to pull at her arms, trying to get some breathing room. Feeling his Ojiisan approach and ruffle his hair Naruto looked up for assistance only to be greeted by a horrifying sight. There in front of him was his Ojiisan, blood pouring out of a gaping hole in his chest. Trying to scream Naruto's struggles increased to where he could finally see his Obaachan. He immediately wished he hadn't.
Smiling down at him, seemingly unaware of the three blades protruding from the side of her head, she spoke again, "You'll make a fine demon someday, Naruto."
Naruto went cold at these words. As his struggles grew weaker and weaker from the lack of air, Naruto barely heard his Ojiisan gurgle, "Here Naruto, this will help you on your way to becoming a great demon of Konoha." Weakly raising his eyes to his Ojiisan, Naruto watched in horror as Takeshi pulled a kitchen knife from seemingly nowhere. As the elderly man drove the blade into Naruto's chest, he let out a terrified scream.
Jerking awake, Naruto opened his mouth to scream and was surprised for a fraction of a second when nothing came out. However, once that passed he realized why.
Standing over his bed with their hands wrapped around his throat, was a shadowy figure. Naruto could just make out a pair of grayish bracers on the figure's forearms and a part of a vest, but nothing else as even the greatest eyesight was useless when the owner of said eyesight was too panicked to take in what he was seeing.
As Naruto thrashed around in a desperate attempt to free himself, the figure shifted to keep a better grip, bringing a portion of his face into view. Or it would have, if they weren't wearing a very familiar white porcelain mask. 'Anbu! But… but why?' Shocked by what he saw, Naruto froze up, nearly sealing his fate. Luckily, during his struggles Naruto had somehow managed to tangle the IV tube around his leg, and his last kick was just enough to bring the IV stand crashing to the ground.
Mere seconds after the stand hit the ground, the door to Naruto's room burst open and a second Anbu dashed into the room. Not even slowing, the new Anbu jumped into the air towards Naruto's bed, drawing his ninja-to as he did so. As he landed on the side of the bed, the Anbu swung his blade at Naruto's assailant, forcing the attacker to release Naruto and defend himself.
Naruto's assailant drew two kunai and crossed them to block the powerful down swing of the ninja-to, before jumping back to gain some room.
Naruto's savior leapt forward almost immediately after the attacker disengaged, landing on the floor between Naruto and the man, creating a barrier of deadly steel.
"Stand aside, little tadpole." the assassin growled as he raised his kunai to a ready position.
"You're not getting any closer to this child, you washed up rodent." said "tadpole" responded while lazily twirling his sword one handed. He said it like he was merely stating a fact instead of threatening the man's life.
As Naruto shakily gasped in fear -not to mention a desperate need for oxygen- he was finally able to get a good look at both his attacker and his savior.
While he gazed at the two, time seemed to slow, and Naruto couldn't help but feel like he was but a spectator, uninvolved in the entire event. He knew he should be scared or angry or something, but he just felt...empty. He also knew that he should run, but really, how far could he get?
As he had thought, "rodent", his attacker was indeed an Anbu. He was dressed in the standard black pants and sleeveless shirt. Over that, he wore the grayish vest with the standard ninja-to sword rising over the right shoulder. He also had the forearm bracer/sleeves and shin guards. The other Anbu, "tadpole", was dressed almost the same, with the only difference being hair color and masks.
Naruto's attacker had brown hair and wore a Nezumi mask, while the other had black hair and wore a Gama mask. Gama was also slightly taller than Nezumi.
Naruto took all this in in an instant, before the duo continued their dance of death. Gama swung his ninja-to at Nezumi, only to stop mid-strike and thrust at the man's chest. Nezumi cursed, caught off guard with his kunai positioned to block a side swing, leaving his chest exposed. He barely managed to bring one kunai back in time to deflect Gama's blade, hissing as he received a scratch just below his armpit instead of being run through the chest. The moves were so simple and smooth, as if the two Anbu had practiced this dance for weeks beforehand. Only the grunts and cursing broke the flow from one step to another.
The rogue Anbu angrily threw himself forward, trying to get inside the sword wielding Anbu's guard. Thrusting one of his kunai forward, Nezumi managed to drive Naruto's guardian back against a wall before jamming his second kunai into Gama's chest.
Gama gasped in pain and Naruto felt the beginnings of terror when his only protector was killed right in front of him, before the Anbu disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Snarling savagely when the Anbu turned into a bedpan, Nezumi spun around slashing with his kunai as he went. There was a loud clang as kunai met ninja-to. Grunting, Nezumi allowed himself to fall back against the wall before twisting his torso to the side, drawing Gama's blade out to the right, creating an opening, and viciously kicking him in the chest. Naruto blinked in surprise when Gama held his sword out and seemingly disappeared. An instant later, Naruto was alerted by a crunching sound. Turning, Naruto found his protector slumped against a wall. Naruto's eyes widened in fear at this sight, silently pleading with the man to get up, to save him. As the sword user crashed into the opposite wall, Nezumi threw his kunai, one after the other, hiding the second in the shadow of the first.
Gama was able to knock the first kunai away with his ninja-to, only to gasp in surprise when the second impaled his shoulder.
As Gama dropped his blade, Nezumi grinned under his mask and took advantage of the brief lull in the fighting. A second later, he was standing in front of the corner Naruto had retreated to.
Arm whipping forward, he grabbed Naruto by the throat and drew another kunai to drive into Naruto's heart. Naruto struggled weakly in his grip, choking and sputtering as his ribs protested in agony. "Please...don't...I-I don't wanna die!"
Just as the Anbu was about to finish his task, Gama appeared behind him, desperately driving a kunai through the side of his neck, killing Nezumi instantly and spraying Naruto's face with blood.
Naruto wasn't sure how long he just sat there staring at the dead man, but when he finally became aware of his surroundings again, the Gama masked Anbu was crouching in front of him.
"I said, are you alright kid?" Gama asked shaking Naruto by the shoulder.
Naruto stared at the man who had "saved" him, mind abuzz with questions. 'What does he care? Why did he even bother saving me? Is this just another trick? Do they really think I'll fall for this so easy?' Seeing the Anbu reaching out to shake him again Naruto finally spoke.
"Don't touch me."
"You're welcome." Gama grunted as he stood up and called for the doctors. It was then that Naruto noticed that the Anbu had wrapped some bandages around his arm where he had been hurt. What really caught his eye though, was that the other Anbu was missing. There was still a pool of blood where he died, but no sign of the body.
'Guess I spaced out for a while.' Naruto thought just before the room was swarmed with nurses and doctors.
Trying to avoid notice, Naruto shrank back into the corner praying to be overlooked long enough to sneak out the door. Sadly, he was immediately noticed by the first nurse to enter the room.
"Sanada-san" the young nurse called out, much to Naruto's irritation. She rushed over to him, quickly followed by several other nurses and a doctor. Kneeling in front of him, she went through a series of hand seals before moving her hand in a sweeping motion over Naruto.
"How is he, Kaori?" A doctor asked as he crouched down next to the young nurse.
"He has some bruising around his neck, and it looks like he tore out his IV again. Other than that he seems to be alright, though I'm worried he might be in shock." Kaori reported as she finished her scan.
The doctor nodded his head and addressed the nurses around him, "Alright, let's get him cleaned up and moved to a new room. I'll send word to the Hokage." After receiving some nods, he moved to check on the Anbu before leaving.
Naruto tensed as another one of the nurses moved to pick him up. He wasn't sure if she noticed or not, though the other nurse, Kaori, seemed to be looking at him sadly. As he was carried from the room, he saw the Anbu following him with Kaori hounding him every step of the way.
"What happened in here? What did you do to that poor boy? Don't ignore me! I'm talking to you! I swear if you had anything to do with this, not even the Hokage can protect you!" Kaori growled at Gama as he followed Naruto out the room. 'Wow… he's really good at ignoring her. I wonder why he isn't being nice to her like Obaachan always sai-'
Naruto flinched when he realized where his train of thought was taking him. The nurse must have felt him, because she stopped and asked, "Are you alright, Sanada-san?"
"Stop calling me that!" he hissed at her.
"Ok then, Naruto-san. Are you alright?" the nurse seemed completely calm despite his outburst.
"M'fine." he muttered as he looked away from her so she wouldn't see his eyes starting to water.
He chided himself as he scrubbed at his eyes angrily. 'Boys shouldn't cry… ninjas don't cry… why should I cry for them? I… I won't ever cry again…I won't!' Despite his best efforts, the tears continued to drip down his face.
Naruto kept his head turned away from the nurse as she laid him in a fresh bed and tucked him in while another set up an IV and put the needle in his arm. Shortly after, the doctor came in, checked on a few things, and passed his hand over Naruto, pausing for a moment at his neck, before writing something on a clipboard attached to the bed and leaving the room.
Naruto waited until the last nurse -'Kaori was it?'- left the room with instructions to call if he needed anything, before he pulled the needle from his arm once more.
Sitting up, Naruto wrapped his arms around his legs, uncaring of the blood that flowed down his arm once again. Staring around the room Naruto checked each nook and cranny that he thought might be hiding someone.
Seeing no one, and more importantly, feeling no one, Naruto began to relax back into the bed before freezing in horror.
Slowly inching to the side of the bed, Naruto held his breath as he began to cautiously poke his head under the bed, his heart pounding loudly in his ears.
Thump thump…
Naruto carefully gripped the side of the bed, making sure to keep his fingers from poking over the side.
Thump thump…
Holding his breath, Naruto slowly moved his head towards the edge.
Thump thump…
Freezing right at the edge Naruto tried to force himself to peek down under the bed.
Thump thump…
'C'mon…c'mon just look…just a couple of inches…that's all…'
Just as Naruto was about to peek his head around those last few inches…he couldn't hold his breath any longer.
"Hah!" Naruto gasped out before going wide-eyed and clapping his hands around his mouth.
No longer having hands to hold himself up over the edge, gravity did what it does best. Landing on his head with an "oomph" Naruto curled up into a ball and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for his doom.
When nothing happened after a few moments, Naruto slowly opened one eye. His gaze darted under the bed and revealed…nothing.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Naruto sprawled out on his back. Staring up at the ceiling, Naruto quickly became lost in his thoughts. Now that his gra-guardians were dead, he was alone again, meaning that he would probably be sent back to the orphanage. The question was did he want to?
In just one day, everything he had believed in was destroyed, by the very people who taught him what life had to offer. Having been outside the orphanage and having been given love, even if it was all fake, showed him that the way he had been treated in the orphanage was wrong. Could he go back to that?
Sure, the orphanage would at least make sure he survived, but would that be worth going back to his old life? Still, what else could he do? It wasn't like he could take care …of…himself…
Naruto blinked in surprise at this new train of thought. 'Could I? I mean, Susuki did teach me how ta read and write…and she taught me a lot about cooking. Not ta mention those times I helped with the laundry… and Takeshi taught me about throwing weapons and chakra, so I can defend myself if I hafta. And the Sanada's have some scrolls on chakra and stuff. So all I gotta do is grab somma them before the Old Man takes everything. That way I can get stronger. But how can I get the Old Man to go alo-'
Naruto stiffened as he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway towards his room. Panicking, Naruto jumped up and desperately looked for a hiding spot, or a way out of the room besides the door.
"Shit!" he hissed before all but diving under the bed and curling up into a ball with his back to the wall and his eyes locked on the door. Holding in his yelps of pain from his abused ribs, he tensed as the footsteps arrived at his door…and continued past his room and on down the hall.
Taking a deep breath to try to calm himself, Naruto relaxed slightly as he went back to his thoughts. For the next couple of hours he thought to the best of his young mind's ability, plotting and planning. Eventually succumbing to his exhaustion, Naruto fell into another restless sleep.
It was here that he would be found in the morning, curled up in a ball under his bed, much to the shock and dismay of the nurse and the Old Man.
1. A very, very dumbed down explanation of an IV. Remember, he's only four.
Translations:
Nezumi=Rat
Gama=Toad
Tora=Tiger
AN: Well, what do you think? As always, reviews, ideas, suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcomed. How did you like my first fight scene? And just so you know, don't plan on any chapters involving Naruto being attacked by anyone within the village again. Each attack in the last three chapters were meant to explain a few things, introduce a few people, and to mold Naruto's personality, and this latest attack by the Sanadas will be explained a little more as we go along.