After the preliminaries were over and the matches were set for the third test, Team 7 high-tailed it out of the half-burned forest to the actual Leaf Village Hospital. Smoke clouded the sky, but they could tell it was sometime in the afternoon. Naruto and Sasuke weren't really dying. It was just hard for them to tell otherwise with the condition they were in and the exertion they forced on themselves. The emergency staff immediately got to work when they showed up, carrying them off in stretchers.

Sakura, exhausted from running such a long distance, slumped against the nearest wall. "Can they really help them?" She took several deep breaths until her breathing started to even. "Sasuke body flickered to catch Naruto with me. And Naruto…" Her lips quivered. "That dumbass just keeps pushing himself when he's falling apart."

"It's okay." Kakashi patted her on the head and joined her on the ground. "The Mystic Healing Palm Jutsu will take care of any life-threatening wounds they have. In a facility advanced as this one, they'll get the treatment they need."

"Mystic Healing Palm Jutsu?"

"It's known as just the Healing Jutsu, but that's the proper name for it." He looked at his palm. "It requires such a level of chakra control few ninja can do it, but it works on any wound. Medic-nin capable of it are invaluable and typically regulated to hospitals outside of wartime though."

She looked to him, green eyes sparkling. "So they'll be okay, right?"

"They will." He eye-smiled.

"I worry about them a lot." Sakura giggled as tears ran down her face. "I know it's something they'd both be mad about, but I can't help it: Sasuke almost died and Naruto looked so fragile when you carried him back in your arms. They act tough and cool when they're in so much pain."

Kakashi's eye looked down. "...I know."

It was something they'd always carry.

The sun shined vibrantly on that day years ago. It was the near the end of their first year. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu mechanics and village history was taught. Everyone was proud at the idea of becoming a shinobi and advancing on the next stage: all but one.

"Fight me, douchebag!"

Iruka gaped. "Do you even know what that word means?!"

"I said fi–"

The blank-eyed boy palmed him in the face, swept his leg, and moved along, never once looking at the boy in an olive sweater with green trimmings, a swirl emblem on its chest.

"Ooh!" A bushy browed boy with a ponytail jumped forward. "Ooh! Me next!" He blocked the palm with his own but couldn't react to the sweep. "Well played, Neji!"

The boy didn't respond to him either, walking away to find a different opponent.

"Aww!" He whined. "I see you haven't given up either, Naruto!" He turned to see the spiky-haired blond boy with a bloody nose. Extending a hand, he smiled.

Naruto slapped it away and tackled him to receive a headbutt to the face, sending him back. "Screw you, Bushy Brows!"

Lee smiled. "Spirited as ever!" He held out his hand again.

"You know you want to take it. Go ahead. The two of you can cry about how you're nothing together."

"Go away." His blue eyes narrowed. "I don't need you."

The boy's smile only widened. "That's the Naruto I know!"

That was how their sparring time usually played out. For the entire year, nothing but failure against those boys. One he couldn't resent, but the other he already did. The evening in the playground after he heard everyone but him passed was a moment he'd never forget.

"Fight me, douchebag!"

"There is nothing to fight," Neji answered without looking at him, to everyone's shock. "You will not join us, as a dead last. While you have not dropped out, you have failed in every capacity. There is no one here to congratulate you or scold you and there never will be. Everyone understands you are a failure. The life you have will amount to nothing. Kinless, friendless, and meritless. You are nothing." He walked away.

The Tailed-Beast burst into laughter. "I couldn't have put it better myself!"

Naruto stood there and shook. The words rang in his head. Deep inside of himself, a part of him believed them. He balled his hands into fists and stomped out of the exit as the anxiety gave way to overwhelming rage and hatred.

Sitting away from all the children, Neji waited for his caretaker. He nearly fell over when a stone smashed into the side of his face. "Wha– He saw Naruto outside the entrance making awfully good use of their ninja tool training with something that wasn't one. Moving out of the way, he sprinted towards him, activating his Byakugan in case of any tricks.

Naruto grinned and led him where he wanted. He stopped when they were far enough away from any prying eyes. Even if he lost, he didn't want anyone interfering. No matter what it would take, he'd make him regret his words.

Neji dodged a punch, poked the tenketsu in his wrist, poked him in the liver, and dotted his arms while he was in pain before palming him away by the throat. Feeling confidant, he moved to turn but frowned when his opponent rose. "I meant to take you down in the first series of blows."

"After all this time, did you really expect me to give up?!"

"Another failure." He dropped into his stance and narrowed his eyes. "I will put you out of everyone's misery, including your own." With one more charge, he rammed his finger tips into the center of his chest. "This is the fate awaiting everyone." He turned and walked away as his opponent fell for what should've been the final time.

"N-Neji!" Naruto yelled from the ground, eyes glaring at the boy's back.

Neji glanced at him, blinked, and kept walking.

Clutching his chest, Naruto tried to rise but fell back down. "You… Get back here!"

"He hit your heart, you idiot: you're going to die if you keep floundering. Calm down; you lost."

"Fuck you!" He grit his teeth as he tried dragging himself after the other boy. "Fuck him! Fuck all of you!"

"You can fool those worthless gnats, but you will never fool me. The adorable way you shivered at those words. You know it's true."

Naruto punched the ground. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"And then you'd be alone again, not that you could ever make me stop. That Fourth Hokage of yours saw to that. Everything was decided for you on the day you were born."

"...Why did he do that to me?" He fell limp. "I don't get it." Tears threatened to leave his eyes. "What did I do wrong?"

"You were born. At a convenient time but really that's all it took. In the end, it was nothing to him. You were nothing. Whatever life you had without me would've been nothing. The only thing special about you is me."

Naruto laid there until he could move again. Shambling to his apartment, he was given the usual looks. The bruises on him were growing common at that point, so no one cared, not that many did before. He opened his door to the usual mess of its interior. "I'm home." He closed it, got to his bed, fell down, and held his pillow close, wishing it was someone else.

That anxiousness still lingered.

Naruto's subconscious was an odd place. Home to a Tailed Beast, his inner-most thoughts that leaked out through clones, and sometimes himself. Except it wasn't actually real, but it was also real that both could interact with each other in a limited way.

"Thinking of all that anger and hatred inside, aren't you?" It glowered behind its cage, the seal slightly peeled off. "How meaningless you feel?"

"No," Naruto, laying flat on his back on the wet floor, said.

"Then what was that?"

He shrugged. "Neji tried to kill me again, and I remembered the first time he tried." His eyes stared at what amounted to a ceiling in his mind. "Sure I was angry, I hated Neji, and I even let his words get to me but…"

"What else could you possibly be thinking when you recall that moment?"

"That's the thing. I've been angry for so long to the point I've only bothered to remember the moments in my life where I was angry." Laughing, he smiled at how foolish it seemed. "...When all of that was over, I just didn't want to be alone."

"Pathetic."

"I know, but I can't change how I felt then or how I feel now. All I can do now is try to move forward, hoping it turns out different. That's what I've been doing this entire time, and it was working until my past came back. I fucked up." Naruto laughed again at the senselessness of it. "I was happy...for the first time in a long time. Someone acknowledged me, I got to prove myself against people that couldn't just be written off, someone held me, a woman let me know what she felt like, I killed a fucking tiger, and I'm around people who don't make me feel alone." He frowned. "And I've been acting like a cunt to them when they're not responsible at all for my problems or my feelings."

"The village despises you. And even those two look at you as if you are a paper bomb waiting to go off."

"Since when have I really cared what they think of me?" He scoffed. "They looked at me like I was about to go off because I was and I did." Humming, he tilted his head to look at the fox locked in the cage. "You've been driving me for the longest time. Getting my head wrapped around anger and hatred so I can focus on overcoming my weakness, and it worked." An earnest smile formed from his lips. "Thank you."

"...What?"

He laughed, tears seeping from his eyes. "For everything, thank you. You never lied to me and…" His face scrunched. "You were the only one there when no one else was, even if you did make me feel alone. I got stronger because you existed."

"You hate me."

"Of course I do. I'm done being mad at you and everything though. I want to be happy: I want to be better. How am I any different from Neji if I let myself be tied down by the circumstances of my birth?"

The Nine-Tail's eyes stared at the insignificant speck before it. His words were the honest truth. Free of doubt and regret, they reminded it of the words spoken by the first human it ever knew. Its anger and hatred were natural but to be ruled and controlled by them would lead it down the path of misery.

Naruto closed his eyes. "I'm tired… I hope I remember this when I wake up for real. Thank you for hearing my thoughts, even if you didn't have a choice."

Both rested in that cavern only the two of them could, keeping the other company even when they really didn't want to. It was the matter of their circumstances. Until they learned or knew how to change them, they would have to suffer and bear each other.

Naruto and Sasuke's conditions were stable, but they occupied rooms on different floors. Sakura sat outside Sasuke's on Kakashi's insistence, telling her she'd be a more welcoming sight than the sensei who didn't teach him how to throw lightning at giant snakes. Kakashi sat outside Naruto's room seemingly reading his favorite book. Anko approaching him from his drew his attention away though.

"If you're here to give him another reward for doing well during the exams, I hope it's something of meaningful value to him."

She rolled her eyes. "Please, papa bear. You know from the cry he made afterward that was more meaningful than almost every other gift he's ever gotten." Her tone grew sad. "Not that there was probably much."

"...The fact that was a meaningful gift to him is exactly why I don't want you to give him another like it."

"I know." Anko looked down. "I'm sorry."

Kakashi's eye remained fixed on his book. "Moping is unbecoming of you, but the apologies are welcome. Besides, I'm certain you didn't come here for anything we've talked about."

"Any sign of him?" She looked up, eyes narrowing.

"Not yet."

"The hospital staff?"

"They've been warned and are either in rooms with other patients or the lower floors."

"No anbu?"

"They'd only get in my way."

Grinning, she tilted her head. "Think I'm in yours?"

"No," he answered, "I was sure you'd come along sooner or later, and there are only two other people alive who might have a chance."

"You're not one and yet you're here?"

Kakashi shrugged. "The chance I was speaking of was making out of the fight alive. I have no qualms about dying, if I take him with me."

"And here I thought you were a candidate for Hokage."

"I don't know about that: I may be good, but I'm not flee-on-sight-order good or still-the-strongest-even-in-old-age good." He glanced at her, beaming at the implication of his words. "I meant you have a chance because you were his student."

Deflating, she pouted. "You're no fun." She shook her head and laughed. "You really don't know him if you think that." The mark on her neck burned. "Speaking of him, he's here."

"I'm so jealous, Kakashi." Orochimaru's voice rang around them before they shot up and dropped into combat stances. "Your lovely Sharingan, a prodigal Uchiha, and an Uzumaki teaming with vitality for students."

Kakashi lifted his forehead protector. "You're going to die if you touch either of them!"

The man's voice was almost whining. "But I want both. The Sharingan and boundless chakra, but I can only really have one, right? A transplant constantly drains you, even when you're not using it." He knew from countless experiments and observation. "Yet...that boy may have more than enough to bear the cost. Especially with the Nine-Tails to fall back on."

"Oh no." Eyes widening, he realized his intentions.

Anko patted him on the shoulder as her curse mark activated. "I'll hold him off. You go check on the Uchiha." Her gaze was determined and assuring. "That sick fuck won't get past me!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I entrust Naruto to you." He patted the hand on his shoulder before taking off for the stairs.

Alone, she created a shadow clone and drew shuriken from her pouch to breathe wind chakra over them. They were in a hospital, so fire style jutsu were out. On one of the highest floors meant earth style was out too. She was incapable of water jutsu nor cared for them. Wind and lightning, two opposing elements, were all she had to work with. The explosive clone trick was also unthinkable, as much as she loved doing it. While her opponent knew every technique she did, all she needed was a single opening. Taijutsu was out of the question unless she was absolutely sure she could get the real him into a hold.

Then four Orochimarus entered her vision. Two crept in from the windows at the ends of the hall she was in. One peaked their head out from a hall entrance almost teasingly. The last approached from the direction of the stairs Kakashi ran to.

"I love and hate clones so much." She glanced at her pouting copy. "You know I love you, baby." Their focus shifted to her enemies. "I hate them."

It would be the furthest thing from an easy fight. In all likelihood, she was probably going to die. Just so happened that she shared Kakashi's acceptance of death in the event it ended with her former mentor's too. That would be a fitting end for her. Deep down, that's what she wanted.

In comparison to Naruto, Sasuke was in fantastic condition. Then again he wasn't skinned alive and boiled on the inside by a being composed of pure chakra living inside him. It was just a little chakra exhaustion, specifically the use of chakra after being exhausted of chakra. He recovered a lot in comparison to his state after frying the snake, but that set him back another day or two. Sakura wasn't sure if they offered co-patient rooms or if that was even a concept yet she would've proffered it over going back and forth between them. Still, she could bear it for their sake.

An almost entirely cloaked man in a mask appeared at the end of the hall, setting her on edge. The mask was similar to the one the man spying on Naruto wore, but it had just red marks rather than red and green. His movements were masked by the cloak. It was conspicuous purposely.

Sakura stood up and stepped into the center of the hall to block his way. "Who are you?"

"I'm with the anbu." He raised a hand in greeting. "I've co–" Ducking under a kunai, he launched himself forward to swipe with the edge of his hand.

She redirected the blow by forcing her forearm against his wrist, already having seen a similar attack with the Gentle Fist, but caught his knee in her gut. Bobbing away from the same palm coming down, she punched him in crotch and jumped back to disengage as he did the same. "Aww, did that hurt?!"

"Yes." He threw away his cloak, revealing long black hair and his anbu outfit. "What gave me away?"

"Instead of asking me why I attacked, you attacked. Also, we already sat down with the Hokage. I'm sure he'd send more than just one guy."

"You would've made chunin." With a flick of his fingers, the cloak he discarded flung itself at her.

She made the mistake of trying to dodge it. When she forced herself against the wall, the cloak just clung to her. "What the hell?!" She reached for her kunai pouch.

He looked from her to the door she was guarding and chose to walk up to the door. "Priorities." He moved to enter the room, but it slammed open into him, knocking him down.

"Sakura!" Sasuke called out. He set down his knocking foot and almost fell over stepping forward.

"Seriously!" The masked man rose from the fallen door. "Does everyone on your team have some sort of death wish?!" He pointed at the patient. "You're going to need at least a week's worth of bed rest! Minimum!"

Sakura cut out of the cloak and shared a confused look with Sasuke. "He does have a point."

"Priorities!" He rushed the false anbu, dropped, and tried to hook his leg with his own, but he jumped to the side, also avoiding a rushing blow from his teammate.

The cloak, now in two, flew into and wrapped around their faces with some well-maneuvered fingers. The masked man put his palm to Sasuke's head and he fell limp. Sakura suffered from the same fate. Turning to retrieve his target, a lightning chakra-infused kunai nearly pierced his throat, digging into and leaving electrical scars in the ceiling.

"Not a chance!" Kakashi's tone was particularly vicious.

He dived in to grab Sasuke but a beam of water tore through his shoulder and would've torn through the rest of his body if he didn't lay flat behind the boy.

Tenzo, maskless, was on the other side of the hallway. "Go to Orochimaru!" He glared at the false anbu bleeding on the floor. "This one's mine!"

Kakashi nodded at his old friend before heading off again, the missing-nin being a far greater concern. He of all people knew what the anbu was capable of. If a wounded Sasuke and Sakura gave the henchman a hard time, Tenzo would be more than enough for him.

"Well, it looks like this mission's a failure." The masked man rose, opened the nearest door, ran into the room, and jumped right out of the window.

Tenzo ran over and looked from the broken window to the two kids on the floor. "Good thing we're in a hospital." He turned to one of the medical staff rushing to check the source of the latest racket. "Those two." He pointed to the half of Team 7. "Are going to need your help. I'll pitch in." While he did want to help against Orochimaru, the spy was obviously there for Sasuke. It's possible he wasn't the only one. He'd safeguard the two until backup arrived.

If the hospital weren't such a big place, it'd be harder for the abductors to accomplish their goals. There were jonin around checking on their students, but they weren't close enough to hear the commotion. Even if they did, they'd try to defend their own recovering team members if the enemy was uncertain. Any enemy operating in deep friendly territory was always such a hassle because they had to be a force to even get to that point. The best anyone could do was hunker down until help arrived or get help, and he was there because the Hokage decided to put him back on, even though Naruto didn't want a tail. Ironic that probably saved him.

Anko wasn't that much compared to Kakashi, by her own admission. The man was capable of all five basic elemental releases and knew more jutsu than he could remember the names of. Granted, he never used them to his fullest extent, preferring his self-made jutsu and fundamentals. Only Sarutobi and Orochimaru, to her knowledge, were capable of the same mastery. Others made a big deal about her four elements, but she didn't think much of it. Earth was useful for terrain advantage, lightning looked really cool, wind was deadly, and fire was only impressive in her book by how much wind elevated it. Water sucked in her and a lot of other people's eyes because the level of skill you needed to make it not suck and to even use it away from any source of water. Out of her four elements, she only used two, maybe three if she were sent off on a mission. The only time she felt proud about it was when she was still his student, and he wanted her to learn them all, like he did.

She stepped into the hall and flung a wind-infused shuriken horizontally and the other diagonally after, so their wind blades wouldn't intersect. Her clone took her place in the one leading to Naruto room, made several hand seals, held out her arms, and shot lightning from her palms at the attempting to flank her, turning them into shadow clone smoke.

The Orochimaru at the staircase latched on to the wall wit his chakra and crawled toward her through one of the four gaps free from the wind shuriken. "You love that little trick!"

"I hate I learned it from you." The Ankos drew more shuriken, infused them with wind chakra through their breath, and turned the hall into a death trap. Seeing the presumable clone actually twist and ease between the cutting wind, one made hand seals and pointed at the center of the hall, shooting a miniature bolt of lightning right through into him before he can escape and rendering him smoke. "I really wish there were more ranged lightning style jutsu."

"So do I," the playful Orochimaru said, slit snake eyes still peaking out the hallway corner.

Her clone poofed out of existence as her curse mark grew in response to her anger. "Am I just a joke to you?!"

"Anko," a familiar, weathered voice behind her said.

She turned and saw Sarutobi glaring at her, eyes full of disgust. "What th–"

"You are a disgrace!" His hand tightened on his cane. "Every time I look at you, I can see the filth you crawled out of. No wonder my despicable apprentice took you in. You are as depraved and amoral as he is!"

"I…"

A warm, pale hand touched her shoulder. "It's okay." It drifted down to her side as its owner wrapped his arms around her. "I still love you. I always will."

Shedding tears, Anko released the genjutsu with a seal and let the curse mark finish her transformation before she ran over to punch the giggling onlooker. "I hate you so fucking much!" It turned into smoke, to her disappointment. "Where's the real y–" She froze. Spinning on her heel, she ran to the door of Naruto's room and flung it open.

Orochimaru had one hand stroking the top of a bandaged, comatose Naruto's head and the other holding a finger to his own lips. "He's sleeping."

"Don't. You. Dare."

"Are you angry for his sake or angry that I threw you away?" He cooed at her seething form. "Or are you jealous of him?"

"Anko!" Kakashi called out as he ran to her.

She didn't look away, sure he'd disappear with the child if she did. "I fucked up."

Orochimaru chuckled at the shocked expression on the other jonin's face. "Come now, did you really expect to outdo me?" He smirked at his glare. "I always ge–" The Sharingan eye spinning into a slanted pinwheel made him shiver.

Anko stared as space distorted around her old mentor's head. "What the…"

Instincts screaming in memory of the last encounter with such an eye, Orochimaru jumped out of the open window. His lower body was wrenched from him, but it was a small price to pay for his life. He started making hand-signs before he even impacted the ground to make his escape. What was left of him seeped into it and away from any prying eyes.

Kakashi jumped over his comatose student and brought his fist down on the window frame at the lone pool of blood below. "Dammit!" He didn't even register Anko leaping to his side. "I was hoping to end it once and for all here."

"What the fuck was that?!" She kicked the lower body of Orochimaru between the legs. "Did you just use a space-time jutsu?!" She raised a blackened eyebrow at his Sharingan eye whirling back to normal. "What the fuck…"

He poked one of her jutting fangs, pinched her teary golden cheek, and pointed at one of her golden eyes with its blackened whites. "What the fuck is this?"

"It's…" Anko raised a hand to rub the back of her head as her features returned to normal, the burning flame marks retreating to her neck. "Something I developed with Orochimaru." She pointed at his Sharingan. "Your turn."

"The Sharingan has a fourth stage." Kakashi covered the eye in question. "I'll hide yours if you hide mine."

She giggled. "Sure, who else are weirdos like us supposed to trust?" She glanced at Naruto. "He won't stop. Once he decides on something, he doesn't give up." She looked to him with determined eyes. "I know how to buy us time."

"I'm all ears."

"Orochimaru hates picking between things, especially when it comes to knowledge or jutsu. What he said earlier was the truth: he wants Naruto's body and Sasuke's eyes. He came after them because they were together in one place. If we split them between two different positions he has to sacrifice anything to attain one, he'll never be able to make a move."

Kakashi shook his head. "Naruto and Sasuke are practically inseparable. They train, eat, and have recently taken to sleeping next to each other in the woods."

"That's really sweet but kind of gay." Anko blinked and laughed at his narrowing eye. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"It would hurt them, and they would distrust us. It's already happened once with the anbu you fought with in the Forest of Death. Naruto's been declining since the Chunin Exams began, but it's too late to have him or Sasuke back out now. They're going to want to train over the next month."

"Then we have them do different training. You show the Uchiha how to use the Sharingan, and I take your lovable, feral, perverted brat to teach some ninjutsu." She raised an eyebrow at his still narrowed eye.

It closed. "I trust you, but I expect that boy to still be innocent on the day of the finals."

"Innocent?" Anko scoffed. "He was going to kill that Inuzuka kid and couldn't shut up about wanting to bang his sister."

"You know what I mean." Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Oh… Oh! So, hypothetically speaking, if that Hyuga girl tries to throw herself at him or outright rape him to finally make him realize she's head-over-heels in love with him, I have permission to cock-block your student?" She tilted her head.

"...Yes. Even though Hinata is likely in a similar medical state and likely to be stuck in it for longer, yes. You have permission to cock-block my student."

"Good! If I end up having to rough her up, I'll tell Hiashi you gave explicit orders to defend your student's virginity at all cost."

"I'm glad I can depend on you." Kakashi looked to Naruto. "I hope he takes the news well when he wakes up."

"He seems really desperate to lose it, so he's probably not."

He turned to her in full and grabbed her by the shoulders. "...You two are so much alike. It Is legitimately hard for me to be mad at you because I see the picture of him in your smug, stupid face. Even though half of the body belonging to your outlaw mentor is at our feet, you are still making the same biggest childish, inane remarks I have ever heard in my entire life." He gave her right shoulder a pat and started walking toward the door. "I'm going to go tell the staff the threat is gone and check on the other one." Closing it behind him, he left with no further words.

Anko started laughing, holding her sides. "Oh fuck, the look on his face!" She grit her teeth and fell to her knees. "It was like he thought he was dreaming!" Her forehead met the ground as her laughs turned to sobs. "I… I don't know why I'm like this." She pushed herself back up and sat with her back against the wall, the blood-pooling lower body of Orochimaru by her side. "Am I as lonely as you are, kid?"

That question would be answered in time. All wounds were similar, but the source and intensity of their pain was different. Even when gone, the scars remain. Those never faded, but time always went on. And time, more often than not, left them with more. Naruto was covered in them.

AN: Well, this took me a little longer than usual...which isn't saying much when I am updating daily 5k+ chapters but still. I'd say it's the fights, but that feels dishonest as I already have the action and major moves in my head.

As for my guest, your questions may be answered in time or not at all. I will elaborate that the seal was degenerating as fast as it was before Orochimaru decided to accelerate the process is because Naruto's been carrying the full Nine-Tails on top of unintentionally channeling it when he was wounded though. I never liked that split being a thing. It's weird and of little consequence until the literal end of the story where things went absolutely bonkers

Don't expect anything on that level or whatever the hell the lore with the Sage of Six Paths ended up turning into to be in this fic. I had trouble believing I was reading Naruto when that happened. Final fight snapped me out of it, but I was still left thinking things could've gone better.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the form of a review or PM.