I'm so so so sorry I haven't updated in forever guys. I planned to update on Saturday but...I was busy playing Catherine. I'm sorry, I've just been so addicted, I'm even imagining playing in my head :/

Anyways, to make up for it, I've got three chapters planned. Now I know things are starting out slow, but trust me, in this chapter, things pick up.

I promise to update more or by the Yaoi Gods I will stop playing Xbox for a month...which I don't want to because I'm working on getting the Catherine True Ending or Catherine Good Ending (I got Katherine Good Ending on my first play). So yeah! Don't worry, even if I were to forget about updating, my friend (who coincidentally is named Catherine lol) will remind me and even kill me if I don't update! So don't worry guys! And if you want to yell at me to update, remember, just send me some good old fashioned anon hate on tumblr! (Please don't, I'm fragile ;w;)

Anyways, I apologize once again for the delay, but I don't want to rush this, while I may still be a shitty writer, I at least want this to be a C+ fanfic.

So, now that that's outta the way, enjoy!

Chapter 3: Ain't No Rest For the Wicked

"Dammit...", Tsunade's fist hit her desk, that was her third lottery ticket, the third time she'd won. Something bad was going on or at least...something was coming.

Kakashi had dropped off Naruto, the blonde was already yawning by the time they'd reached his home. Kakashi offered to stay with Naruto, but he said no, that he'd be fine and didn't want anyone worrying about him to much. While it was true he'd been through worse, he still managed to eat and sleep, two vital essentials; Kakashi hesitated but Naruto kept insisting he would be okay after some sleep.

That was five hours ago.

Naruto tried whatever he could to try and get to sleep. He walked around his home, he counted sheep, he even tried cleaning, whatever he tried failed. He even tried talking to Kurama, for some reason he wouldn't answer, Naruto was too tired to care, he flopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Just what the hell's going on?" he wondered.

Cooped up inside made him agitated, he went out to just walk around since he'd dozed off outside earlier that day. Of course, when he'd fallen asleep outside, he kept having vivid nightmares, he decided to bring a pocket-sized booklet with him and wrote down a few random words and numbers; if he thought he was dreaming, he'd take it out and read what he'd written down, if that didn't work, he'd count his fingers.

Once outside, he feels a rush of fresh, cool air; Naruto takes a deep breath and walks towards no particular direction. He keeps a steady pace and tries to talk to Kurama again.

"Kurama...Kurama! Are you there? Are you asleep?" No reply, "At least one of us is..."

Naruto left Kurama to his slumber and tried to remember if anything he'd done could have caused whatever was happening to him. His recent missions weren't anything particular, he hadn't eaten anything odd, his habits have remained the same, what was he missing?

He stopped thinking once he realized he wasn't in Konoha anymore. Naruto turned around and looked back, nothing but forest...just like his nightmares. This was bad, he took another deep breath and kept from panicking. He'd been walking in a straight path right? All he had to do was turn around and-

Except there wasn't a path anymore, just a large, empty, consuming cave. Naruto felt something pushing him towards the cave, at least it wasn't a violent pull like in his dreams. The cave's entrance is decorated with smudged markings and characters, their pattern suggests some sort of seal.

"What exactly was held here? It can't be another bijuu, so then...?"

There was a loud rumbling, a huge gust of hot, moist air hit Naruto, it smelled something fierce, Naruto tried to run, but he couldn't move. He looked down at his hands, seven fingers on each...He'd never made it this far into his dreams, he thought about trying to wake himself up, but he never got to see what was in the cave...This was the moment, the rumbling inched closer, the smell more rancid, the air grew hotter. Naruto tried not to scream, and while he didn't, he did hear someone yelling, they were yelling his name.

"Naruto!" The blonde opened his eyes, he'd fallen asleep outside again. He looked up and there was Kiba and Akamaru.

"Wow, you really are a heavy sleeper! I'd been calling your name for a couple of a minutes, I almost had Akamaru bite you." He offered his hand and Naruto accepted, he pulled the blonde up, "Are you okay? I heard you were having trouble sleeping?"

He rubbed his cheek, no drool, "You hear that from Sakura?"

"Yeah, she's really worried about you, I think everyone is. I guess 'cause this isn't like you, something's up."

"You think I don't know that?!" he raised his voice.

Kiba stepped back, he felt like he'd touched a nerve, he gave a look of cautiousness. Naruto's expression calmed after he realized he snapped at his friend, "Kiba...sorry I just-"

"It's okay, you're tired, I get it." There was an awkward pause between the two until Kiba said, "Oh, did you hear? Apparently there's some rogue shinobi going around and killing people."

Naruto's eyes widened, "What?"

"Yeah, and the thing is, we haven't been able to make any connection between the victims, it's almost like the guy's just killing for the sake of killing. It's pretty crazy..."

"What does he look like?" Naruto asked.

"See that's the thing, no one's seen him! We're assuming he works at night, but even then someone would be bound to notice right? No, this guy's practically invisible, but what's the icing on the cake is that the places he's attacked all surround Konoha."

Naruto's eyes widen even more, what was this guy? What was he capable of?

"Yeah, my reaction exactly, oh but Tsunade is furious 'cause this guy's practically threatening us, taunting us even."

"How do you know this?"

"Tsunade dispatched some teams to search all over the place for this creep and she gave us some intel. Seems they kept this information from us until he's practically at our door step because they didn't want to worry us. I get where they're coming from, but still..."

They walked and headed their way were Sasuke and Sakura. They both didn't think he should be up, they also didn't think they should tell him about the rogue shinobi. Instead, they decided to play it cool and just act if things were normal.

"Naruto, did you manage to sleep?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto didn't want his teammates to worry about him, he lied and said he did, forcing himself to look in Sasuke's eyes hoping he wouldn't detect his lie.

"I feel better now," Sasuke gave him a stern look, he didn't buy it, Naruto needed an escape, "Oh, I heard about the rogue shinobi."

"What?" Sasuke's stern look broke.

"Who told you-" Sakura failed to notice Kiba was with Naruto when they'd bumped into each other. She crossed her arms and sighed.

"Hey, nobody told me! Besides, isn't it better that now he knows? What if he was asleep and the guy hurt him?"

Sakura knew Kiba meant well, but still, she didn't want Naruto worrying about this madman running around, he needed his rest.

"I want to help," Naruto kept a serious tone, "I don't want to be treated like a kid, I need to know just exactly what's going on and help get this guy."

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other and nodded, "Tsunade dispatched teams in and out of Konoha to-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait, you mean this guy could already be inside of Konoha?" Naruto interrupted.

Sasuke sighed, "We're not sure exactly, but Tsunade wanted us to check everywhere this guy could be hiding, teams of two's and three's were sent out. Sakura and I were told to check the Academy."

"I actually just got this news so, don't look at me. I already told Naruto all I knew."

"What about Sai and Kakashi?" Naruto asked.

"They both have been assigned their teams, all we know is the basic information and that we're supposed to search the Academy."

"Alright then, let's go."

"What? Naruto, you're-" Sakura was interrupted.

"Sakura, I already told you, I won't be treated like a kid, not matter how many times you and Sasuke try and tell me I can't go with you, I'll still sneak in and search."

Everyone was quiet, Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other, he could tell Naruto was determined and he was sick of everyone babying him, about this and his sleep troubles.

Sasuke let out an agitated sigh of defeat, the blonde was always so troublesome, but he'd learned to live with it. He complied and the four traveled to the Academy.

The Academy was empty, any teachers were either apart of search teams or walking around keeping people from panicking. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru searched everywhere; classrooms, closets, but they didn't find anything. They were almost halfway done when they searched a science class. The door was locked but they managed to get in, yet it wasn't the lock that kept them from opening the door; desks blocked the door. They pushed forward and got some space to enter one by one, Sakura and Kiba moved the desks so Akamaru could enter while Sasuke and Naruto looked around. They noticed there was something written on the board. It was a vertical line of numbers which read: 1 39 92 92 31.

There wasn't anything else on the board, just those numbers, no one had used this classroom in a while which explained why the door itself was locked. Yet, why were the chairs arranged to block the door? Who had used this room?

They looked around for clues to see what these numbers meant, Naruto pointed out an old poster of the periodic table of elements on one of the walls. This was a science class after all, so it was rather appropriate. They got each number's assigned letter and were horrified at what it spelled.

1 39 92 92 31

H Y UU Ga

Dun DUN DUUUUUUN!

Hinata and Neji? Yes! Let's bring our Hyuugas for a game of Byagukan Peek-a-boo!

I'm pretty sure any Teen Wolf fans reading this might have rushed to look up the periodic table of elements to see what the numbers spelled. I hope any Teen Wolf fans are reading this, that's be totes awesome.

Anyways, like what you read? Hated every fiber of it? Want to tell me your theories?

What do you think was that in the cave? Was it alive? Are Hinata and Neji in danger? Was it a threat? Or maybe...was it a clue in who the rogue shinobi is...

Next time on Dragon Ball Z!