Synchronization

Love Naruto and thought I'd try my hand at a few stories with these amazingly rich and deep characters. I hope you enjoy and will review to let me know your opinions good or bad. I do not have one problem with yaoi, but this story will not contain that genre. I am only stating this for those that do not understand that love is simply love.

I own nothing. Nothing.

Chapter Four

"Iruka was clever," Ibiki snarled, "Did research. I found it on his table. Knew how many pills he could take over a set amount of time. Made himself a schedule…probably because the lack of food was making it too hard to concentrate and that was a way to keep up with his survival plan. Iruka slept in shifts so not to fall too deeply asleep once winter hit. Lived on starvation rations by the light of candles when it grew dark with very little sleep and he didn't say a word or complain. I'm going to kill him myself for not bringing this to my attention!"

"You might not need to," a tired voice spoke as eyes turned to see Lady Tsunade standing in Iruka' doorway, "Umino is suffering from severe starvation symptoms. He's lost a quite a bit of the percentage of his body mass which has affected his heart by weakening the muscles. He's also been fighting walking pneumonia for at least two to three months. We had to empty his lungs of a lot of fluid which was causing his coughing. The fever is so high that we can't seem to cool him down and he's stopped breathing without the use of life support. The kid is dying."

"No," Kakashi breathed as panic reared at the thought of losing another comrade, "That is…do something, Hokage-sama!"

"The medics and I are going to be placing Umino into a cooling bath," Lady Tsunade offered as most blinked at the answer, "If we can't get the fever to come down then Umino…"

"Iruka!" Izumo spat, completely interrupting the Hokage, "He is Iruka. Kohoha's Iruka. I…Lady Tsunade, I…his name is Iruka."

"If we can't get Iruka's fever down then we are going to lose him," the Hokage continued, nodding her understanding at Izumo, "Ibiki come report to me the rest of your findings. Kakashi…Kakashi write Jiraiya. He may need to bring Naruto back early so he can say goodbye to his sensei. Let me review the letter before you send it."

Kakashi numbly nodded as Ibiki followed the Hokage back into Iruka's room. He looked up and saw the same stricken expressions in a lot of eyes. How did things get so dire for one of their own? How did a shinobi of Konoha get so bad off and no one noticed?

"We didn't care," Genma voiced as eyes turned to him even as the Copy-nin blinked in surprise that the other jonin seemed to read his thoughts, "We were so caught up in showing Iruka his place that we forgot his place was among us. He is Leaf…period and we may lose him because we've realized that too late. Oh, God! Anko is going to slaughter us."

"No, Naruto will," Kakashi bit out as more eyes widened, "Iruka-sensei better pull through or all of our asses are on the line here."

"And we would deserve that," Kotetsu groaned, as Izumo nodded from beside him.

Kakashi breathed in a shaky breath and then borrowed some paper from the medical desk to beginning writing the letter to Jiraiya. Once he was done he knocked on the door and was allowed in to see the Hokage, but his eyes went first to Iruka. The sensei's hair fell damp around his shoulders as the breathing mask over his face held the tube running down his throat at a more comfortable angle. Despite the tube, Iruka's breathing was harsh and seemed painful with each inhale and exhale. There was little color in the chunin's face beside the fever blush and Kakashi cursed to see how gaunt and frail Iruka had been under his layers of clothing. The hospital clothes and blankets over the chunin hid nothing.

"His heart beat seems awfully slow," Kakashi pointed out as the Hokage sighed while the Copy-nin shook his head at all the wires and needles that littered Iruka's arms and person.

"Iruka's done a number to himself," Tsunade spoke before pausing and shaking her head, "No. We've done a number on Iruka, Brat. We beat him down so far that he felt he couldn't ask for help. Truthfully, this is my fault."

"Hokage-same?" Kakashi questioned, looking to the sad-eyed lady.

"If I hadn't been so mired in my righteous indignity of being questioned, I might have noticed that I cut off most of Iruka's finances," Tsunade groaned, reaching to smooth some hair back from Iruka's forehead, "I allowed one of my precious shinobi to suffer and you want to hear the clencher, Kakashi?"

The Copy-nin warily nodded as his Hokage sighed.

"Iruka was right," Tsunade blurted as the jonin turned to her in shock, "That Mist child was brainwashed to the nth degree. There was an underground rebellion in Mist among factions that wanted to return to war with Leaf. That unit was going to be used to start that war. Iruka was right to stand up against your team, Kakashi. The child was innocent and had no control over his actions and Iruka saw the truth."

"Underneath the underneath," Kakashi gasped, shaking his head, "When did you find out?"

"Five minutes ago," the Hokage breathed, handing Kakashi the missive to scan, "The rebellion in Mist is squelched, but innocents died and very nearly a fourteen year old shinobi."

"Dammit," Kakashi growled, looking to Iruka, "And what of Leaf? Iruka-sensei?"

"He's fighting," Tsunade stated, "But his chances are not good, Kakashi. His weakened system cannot fight hard enough against the pneumonia. His chakra levels are weakened so much that medical jutsu in not working as fast as I would like. I'm pumping him with as much liquid nutrients as I can get into him, but that fever…the fever has me worried. If he gets too heated, Iruka's heart will give out."

"Okay…what about an ice jutsu?" Kakashi questioned, trying to rack his brain for a solution as the lady turned to him, "Um…there is this one jutsu that causes ice to fill a person until they die. Pretty disgusting to see, but if altered slightly so that I'm just cooling him from the inside instead of actually forming ice…"

"Then there is a chance for the fever to lower enough to be safe," Tsunade blurted, "Tell me everything about this jutsu, Brat, everything!"

Kakashi filled his Hokage in and together the two worked as a team to try and save Iruka. Lady Tsunade protected the chunin's weakened heart as Kakashi continued to send waves of cooling chakra throughout Iruka's system.

"Come on," Kakashi gritted out as he continued working at cooling the younger, "Fight this, Iruka. Naruto can't lose his Iruka-sensei."

Iruka remained passive and limp. He was too ill to hear or even understand what was even happening to him.

"I need more chakra," Kakashi breathed an hour later, "Spreading the cooling waves takes a lot more chakra than expected. Asuma and I have shared chakra before as have Genma and I."

"Right," Lady Tsunade agreed, going to the door to retrieve the two shinobi and ignoring the questions thrown her way.

"Iruka," Genma whispered, gazing at the chuunin in horror, "What can I do to help?"

"Feed Kakashi your chakra," Tsunade snapped, bending to continue to help Iruka's heart muscles as her green jutsu glowed, "Do so slowly so that he can continue to try and cool Iruka down."

"Take turns," Kakashi bit out, "Asuma, you go first since my system has known your chakra the longest."

"Hai," Asuma agreed, placing his hands on Kakashi's back, "Here goes."

"Damn," Genma grimaced, watching Kakashi work before looking to Iruka again, "Come on, Ru. You're too stubborn to allow a fever to break you."

oOo

Funny. This was so funny. For months Iruka had fought against the cold and yearned for those brief bits of time in heat and now he was burning.

"So hot," Iruka whimpered, curling in on himself within the darkness he now dwelt within, "Leave me alone."

The heat licked at him as he curled tighter.

Fight this, Iruka. Naruto can't lose his Iruka-sensei.

"What?" Iruka questioned, lifting his head, "Hatake-san?"

The chunin knew he wasn't crazy. That had been the Copy-nin's voice, but how and where was the cool air coming from? God, it felt so good, but then the heat returned with a vengeance. He suffered alone some more before another voice rang out.

Come on, Ru. You're too stubborn to allow a fever to break you.

Iruka blinked at Genma's voice. Too stubborn, huh? That side of him was what helped him keep going, but he was so tired and the further into the darkness he went the easier it got to fight the terrible heat. It wasn't until he replayed the words of both the shinobi that things fell into place.

"Fever? So I am sick," Iruka sighed, "Wait? What does Hatake-san mean that Naruto can't lose his Iruka-sensei? Am I dying?"

The thought of leaving Naruto alone hurt, but the thought of leaving all of his misery behind was alluring. Cool air hit him again and he basked in the comfort of it for a moment before the heat returned.

Stronger waves, Brat. Iruka is not responding quickly enough and the fever is slowing his heart. So help me you better fight this, Iruka-kun, or I'll…God, Iruka, just fight this. That is an order from your Hokage.

That had been Lady Tsunade. She was trying to save him from whatever was wrong with him, hm? Surprising. He would have thought she'd be glad to get rid of one of the Konoha annoyances. Another bout of coolness washed over him and soothed the burning heat a bit.

"I'll do my best to follow your orders, Hokage-sama," Iruka promised, curling tight once again, "I can't promise you anything, but I'll do my best. I guess…I guess I still can't seem to stop being a burden, can I?"

oOo

"I'm spent," Kakashi groaned as Genma slowly pulled away to sit heavily in a chair while Asuma pulled a chair over for the Copy-nin to sit, "Hokage-sama?"

"The fever is lower," Tsunade reported with a frown, "Low enough that he is not in immediate danger, but still too high for how weak Iruka is, but did you feel it, Brat?"

"The flutter of chakra?" Kakashi questioned as Tsunade nodded, "I felt it too. Iruka heard us and is fighting still."

"Really?" Genma demanded before pumping a fist at the twin nods as Asuma smirked, "Yatta! Ru's always been a fighter."

"But this is still a fight he might not win," Tsunade admitted, placing a damp cloth on Iruka's forehead, "He's still in critical condition, Genma."

"But he's fighting," Genma pointed out, "Iruka never does anything half way. He'll do his best and we just need to keep reminding him of what he still has to fight for, right? We all know that he moves mountains for Naruto and his students."

"Truth," Tsunade gasped, gazing at Genma in surprise, "This will be a mission for those that volunteer to take rounds. Medical intervention can only do so much, but maybe we can remind Iruka-kun of why he is still needed."

Volunteers were not in shortfall, but something surprising happened. Shikamaru had a screaming snit of such epic proportion that his father ran for the hills. Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru had been in Suna on a diplomatic mission and returned in time to hear about what had happened to their old sensei. Who knew Shikamaru had such a temper on him?

"Bunch of troublesome bastards," the Nara clansman growled from Iruka's doorway, "Stay away from Iruka-sensei the lot of you! Ino, you handle the volunteer list. No one enters this room out of guilt for what they've done to Iruka. Only those who truly want to help are allowed in here."

"Hai," Ino snarled, narrowing her eyes as Shikamaru slammed the hospital door behind him.

Kakashi watched in amusement as Iruka's old students gathered around Ino to sign up for shifts. Most of Naruto's classmates had not been around enough to know what had occurred to Iruka due to the mission that started all this mess and none were very happy at the moment. Kakashi didn't blame them one bit.

"You can't do this without help from the rest of us," the Copy-nin pointed out as Ino growled at him, "There is not enough of you to divide out enough shifts so you can be there with Iruka and also get rest. Let us help. There are many friends here that want to see Iruka-sensei well again."

"Then where were his 'friends' while he suffered alone?" Choji snapped, surprising most in the room at the usual good tempered, young man's angry tone, "From what we've been told, only Anko-san stood up for Iruka-sensei. Some of you even laid hands on our sensei to cause harm. Where were Iruka-sensei's friends then?"

A lot of guilty shifting in the room proved that Choji had hit the nail on the head. Mob thinking was wrong and unbecoming of Konoha shinobi.

"Ano?" Hinata offered as eyes turned her way, "If it was wrong for them to turn on Iruka-sensei for what was believed to be a mistake, isn't it wrong for us to turn on them, Choji-kun? Shouldn't any shinobi be given the right to make up for his or her mistakes? That is what I believe Iruka-sensei would want."

Choji sighed and turned to look at Ino.

"I'll make a second list of the questionable volunteers," Ino decided, "Shikamaru will approve who can pick a shift."

Kakashi stepped in line to add his name to the second list and didn't flinch back from the glares from Iruka's past students. He would not shirk this blame. Truthfully, he'd been angered at being questioned by an "underling." Iruka. Annoying, stubborn, loyal Iruka who backed down for no one. He'd been fooled like the rest of his team and Iruka had brought home an important message: Continue to look for the truth, even if it seemed you had all the answered already. The second message was even more important: Be there for your comrades no matter what or regret will be the only thing a shinobi will reap. The Copy-nin approached the Hokage on silent feet.

"Are you going to send that letter?" Kakashi asked the Sannin as she read over the request for Jiraiya to bring Naruto home.

"Yes," Lady Tsunade agreed, tucking the missive in her belt, "Naruto needs to be here. Iruka always draws strength from that loud brat."

"And the other way around," Kakashi sighed before startling as Asuma, Genma, Raido, Gai, and Kurenai approached, "Gah! I've used too much chakra to not feel you all come up behind me."

"That you have," the Hokage agreed as the Copy-nin groaned at Gai's sniggering, "I want you to get some sleep in that room there, Brat, while I go and deal with Shikamaru's temper tantrum. Your ice jutsu has saved Iruka's life for now, but pneumonia is a stubborn illness and that kid has little reserves to try and get better. I have a feeling we'll need to continue to cool the fever as it tries to rise and you are the key to all of that."

"My eternal rival will continue to need assistance with chakra," Gai stated, making eyes turned to him in surprise, "I've seen Kakashi use that jutsu in the past. It takes extensive chakra manipulation and drains the user quickly."

"Agreed," Tsunade hummed while the Copy-nin glared at Gai irritably, "Genma, Asuma, I want you in the same room with Kakashi and getting some rest. You three are my newest medic nins. Your mission will be to assist me with Iruka. Kakashi, is there anyone else that has shared chakra with you that is a good match?"

"Yamato. He should be getting back from a mission later tonight," Kakashi decided as the Hokage nodded, "Lady Tsunade, what are Iruka's chances really?"

"I can't hazard to guess," the blonde admitted, looking grim, "His weakened condition and illness are almost representative of ones brought back after elongated time captured in enemy territory. I'll do everything in my power to try and give Iruka what he needs to pull through, but a lot of that rides on you, Kakashi. He needs that jutu."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi agreed before yawning beneath his mask.

To be continued…