Chapter 1: Patient Zero – Sakura Haruno

Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno strolled through the streets of Konoha together for the first time in six years. Their faces were flushed with excitement and victory. Both had a simple silver bell in their pocket, a token of their success in passing Kakashi Hatake's test and earning the accolades of their former sensei. They knew they would be teamed with Kakashi many more times in the future, but it would be as fellow shinobi, not as sensei and students.

With occasional sidelong glances, Naruto marveled at how much Sakura had changed in in the last six years he had spent travelling and training with the Toad Sage Jiraiya. Gone was the uncertain girl who had frozen in combat on their first C-rank mission. Sakura was a powerful and confident kunoichi now, the prize pupil of Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage. Her skill in medical ninjutsu surpassed that of all but Tsunade and Shizune, and Sakura had mastered Tsunade's technique of monstrous strength, as the broken and cratered ground of the training area where they had tested themselves against Kakashi could attest. Since witnessing his pink haired former teammate's power Naruto had taken extra care to watch his words. Sakura's angry blows to his head had hurt enough when they were genin; now she'd probably put him in a coma if he upset her.

But then, Naruto reflected, he wasn't the brash boy he had been the last time he saw her either. Six years of training with Jiraiya had expanded Naruto's abilities by leaps and bounds. Being away from the village for all that time meant that Naruto was still a genin, while all of his peers including Sakura were chuunin or jounin by now, but the disparity in rank didn't faze him; Naruto knew he had surpassed all of them in strength, even if his trump cards – his hard-won control of the Kyuubi's chakra and his work perfecting the rasengen – weren't something he would ever consider unleashing in a sparring match. What the Kyuubi's rage had done to Jiraiya during training the only time he lost control had been bad enough.

Glancing at Sakura again, Naruto was uncomfortably aware of the other changes time had wrought. He'd had a crush on Sakura since they were in the academy together, but they had been twelve when they parted ways; now they were both eighteen, and the passage of years had transformed Sakura from a pretty girl into a beautiful woman.

When he started his journey, Naruto had been mystified by Jiraiya's predilection for spying on women's baths in the towns they stayed in, but by the end of the trip he'd developed an appreciation for the pervert sage's 'research'. Naruto had never fallen as far as drooling and scribbling notes like Jiraiya did, but he couldn't deny the appeal of watching water and steam caress the lovely forms of bathing beauties from between the slats of the wall around the pools. Now when he looked at Sakura old infatuation, new knowledge of the female form and a vivid imagination combined in a way that was damnably distracting.

Corralling his imagination was taxing enough that he stopped paying attention to his surroundings until he saw Sakura pause, a sad look on her face. Then Naruto heard the voices coming from the open-air café on the other side of the tall hedges that lined the road.

"Oh god, say it isn't so!" one woman's voice exclaimed fearfully.

"It's true," this was a male voice, laden with contempt. "My cousin was on duty at the gate when that damned thing walked back into town, with Jiraiya of the Sannin at his back, no less."

"I suppose it was too much to ask that after six years that freak could have just died somewhere far from here," this was a second female voice with a tone of pure venom. "I thought I would vomit the first time I saw that blond devil wearing Konoha's hitai-ate. It dishonors the memory of all the ninja that he killed."

"Careful the ANBU don't hear you talking like that," the male voice said with bitter sarcasm. "The Third Hokage executed people for talking about that little monster, and I hear the Fifth practically adopted the freak. I guess the village has to control his power, even if being near him turns our stomachs."

"To hell with the ANBU; what are they going to do; execute me too?" The second woman's voice was rich with scorn. "They can go ahead; then I could see my husband and my father again, and I wouldn't have to see the fox demon that killed them soiling this village with every breath he draws while wearing our emblem."

Naruto felt his cheerful smile melt away, his expression settling into a ninja's "work face"; a blank mask that gave away nothing. Anger sparkled in his eyes at the disparaging comments about old man Sarutobi and Tsunade, but mostly he just felt despair consume him. He barely noticed Sakura slipping her hand around his shoulder. "Don't listen to them Naruto," she murmured. "C'mon, let's go get some dinner at Ichiraku's." Even the prospect of a visit to his favorite ramen stand after years away didn't seem to lighten the black cloud weighing on him. He let Sakura lead him further down the road, away from the voices burned his ears with their hate.

All that time away from Konoha had allowed Naruto to hope that the old memories and old hatreds of the villagers would fade; that he could come home stronger than ever, protect the village and prove himself; that he could become Hokage and gain Konoha's acceptance. But those cruel, hateful, bitter voices were no different than the ones that had lashed at Naruto's ears all of his life. As a child Naruto hadn't understood why the villagers all hated him; it had been Mizuki's cruel revelation on the day he graduated from the academy that had laid the truth bare; he was the prison of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and most of the villagers saw the beast that had butchered their families and friends when they looked at him. The other members of the Konoha Eleven had accepted him when he explained the truth to them before leaving with Jiraiya to train, but for the older villagers, it seemed that nothing would change their minds.

Why can't they understand that I'm not the Kyuubi; I'm the prison that keeps the village safe from it! Everyone venerates the Fourth Hokage for sealing the Fox away and saving the village, but they hate the person he put the demon in. It's not fair! Naruto fought the self-pitying thoughts, but coming face-to-face with the village's undiminished hatred after six years was devastating. I wish I could make them all understand how I feel!

If that's really what you wanted, kit, all you had to do was ask, replied a sly, rumbling voice inside Naruto's mind. The voice was deep and distinctive enough to make Naruto's body quiver, and his head snapped up in alarm. It was a voice he'd heard only a handful of times during his training with Jiraiya.

"Kyuubi?" he murmured in surprise. The Nine-Tailed Fox had never talked to him without Jiraiya opening the seal on his stomach before. "What are you doing…" his voice cut off as he felt the bijuu's malevolent power flow out of the seal and flood his chakra network. He was too surprised to stop it; the Kyuubi had never willingly given him chakra before save when he was close to death.

Naruto shuddered as the chakra burned through him, rising from his stomach to his head. It concentrated there, the discomfort growing to a burning pain in his skull. The discomfort focused further and Naruto stumbled, falling to his knees. His eyes felt like they were on fire! The pain made his vision blur and then go dark.

Worried about how miserable Naruto looked and how he'd shut down in an instant when he heard those awful people talking, Sakura frowned when he stumbled, then watched in alarm as he sank to his knees, clutching his head.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked sharply, crouching beside him.

"Don't know… the Kyuubi just did something. My eyes are burning, and… I can't see, Sakura," he said through gritted teeth, his clenched fists testament to his pain.

"Let me look at them," Sakura demanded. When he turned to her, she gasped. The entire surface of both of Naruto's eyes had become a shifting riot of colors, jumping from blue to orange to green to violet to gray and through several more colors each second. "You said the Kyuubi did this?"

"I think so," Naruto said, then frowned. "Weird… the pain's going away now." Sakura watched as his eyes slowed down in their kaleidoscope of color before settling into the strangest appearance of all; the surfaces of his eyes became perfectly reflective, like curved mirrors. Sakura could see her distorted reflection in each orb. For a moment she thought she could see her reflection in his eyes reaching out towards her, and felt a chill run down her spine. "Hey… I can see again," Naruto said with surprise. "Huh. Well that was strange."

"Naruto, I need to get you to the hospital. Tsunade-sama should have a look at you," Sakura insisted as he got back to his feet, seemingly no worse for the wear. Tsunade, Shizune… we should probably talk to Jiraiya as well if the Kyuubi's involved, Sakura thought with alarm, dropping into 'medic mode' and planning what to do as she retained her grip on Naruto's arm and started leading him towards the hospital.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Nah, Sakura it'll be fine. The Kyuubi messes with me when he can, I'm sure this is just some new trick of his. Granny Tsunade's busy; I don't want to bother her."

Sakura looked back at him in disbelief. "No Naruto you need to go to the hospital, your eyes…" when she looked at the reflective orbs, her thoughts turned slipperier than eels. What was I going to say about his eyes? For the life of her Sakura couldn't remember what had been so unusual. Her reflection in his eyes gave her a reassuring smile.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his usual embarrassed grin. "It's probably nothing, Sakura. I'd feel really silly getting granny Tsunade and everyone else all worried over it. Really, I feel fine."

Sakura felt her worry disappear, and felt faintly embarrassed herself; Naruto knew how to deal with the Kyuubi; that was the point of all of his training with Jiraiya. If he wasn't worrying, why should she? There was no use in alarming everybody if Naruto had it under control.

A stray thought at the back of Sakura's mind was insisting that what she'd seen was strange and she needed to be sure he was okay, that it was her duty as a medical ninja, but that thought couldn't find purchase.

Naruto face brightened up as he seemed to remember what she'd said earlier. "C'mon Sakura, let's hurry over to Ichiraku's," and then he was off in search of his favorite food, everything else forgotten. Slightly bemused Sakura followed him, unable to shake the feeling that she was forgetting something important, but the beginnings of a craving for ramen of her own banished those thoughts.

An hour later, Sakura leaned back on her stool, regretting the second large bowl of ramen she'd ordered. Usually she didn't even finish one regular portion, and she'd never had a chance of keeping up with Naruto, who was sitting in a happy stupor amidst a dozen empty bowls. But tonight his appetite had been… infectious, and Sakura hadn't been able to help herself.

The ramen chef Teuchi and his daughter Ayame had been overjoyed to see Naruto, their favorite customer, back in the village after so long. They'd actually shut down the stand after preparing a ramen feast and sat down with them, listening to Naruto's stories of his travels. She'd never seen the pair of them so cheerful; Naruto's mood was contagious. Over the meal the last bits of worry clinging desperately to the corners of Sakura's mind slipped away. Teuchi and Ayame had known Naruto even longer than she had; if something was wrong, surely they would have noticed.

When the meal was over Naruto insisted on paying for both of them from his fat frog wallet, and after they bid goodbye to Teuchi and Ayame, they stepped out onto the street. "So good…" Naruto said with satisfaction. "I missed this place more than anything while I was away," he declared, before glancing sideways at her. "Except for you, Sakura!" he added with a cheeky grin.

Sakura's normal response to a comment like that from Naruto would have been a snort or a punitive blow to his fuzzy blond head, but tonight she felt a faint warmth flow through her at his compliment. "Liar," she said lightly, teasing. "It's okay, I know Ayame is the first girl in your heart," she said with a jerk of the head back towards the brunette ramen stand waitress.

Naruto chuckled. "I guess I should head home and get some sleep. I'm sure the Hokage will have missions for us soon." As he spoke, a small group of village women came walking down the street. When they spotted Naruto they deliberately crossed the street to avoid him, whispering amongst themselves as they went. Sakura felt her own anger building, and she clenched her fists, about to go give those women a piece of her mind, when sadness quenched the rage, and her hand fell back to her side. What was the point? They'd never accept Naruto, even after all he'd done. If single-handedly saving the village from Gaara during the Sound and Sand invasion hadn't proven he was a hero, what would?

Glancing back at Naruto, she knew that he'd seen them too, and been reminded of what they'd heard earlier in the day. His shoulders took on a dejected set as he started to trudge back to his apartment. Sakura thought about Naruto going back to that empty apartment of his alone in such a down mood, and shook her head. "Naruto, my place isn't far from here. Why don't you come over for some tea before you head home?" The least she could do was try to cheer him up.

Naruto perked up at the offer. "Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother."

"Oh it's no bother, I spend so much time at the hospital I hardly ever get to have company over. It'll be fun." Naruto looked so pleased that Sakura felt better about the offer.

Sakura's apartment was just a few blocks away, and Naruto looked impressed when she opened the gate to her apartment complex. "This is a nice area, Sakura," he commented.

Sakura nodded. "I actually share an apartment with Ino. Even with a medic's pay on top of occasional missions I couldn't afford to live here on my own."

"Oh, cool. I haven't seen Ino since I got back," Naruto commented as they climbed the stairs.

"She has the graveyard shift at the hospital tonight, so she won't be getting home until much later this evening, but I'll tell her you want to catch up when she has a chance."

Sakura let them into the apartment, and got some tea started. The pair settled down on the couch in the living room, and Sakura started a comedy playing on the TV that they only half-paid attention to as Sakura caught Naruto up on what had happened to their friends while he was gone, and he told her about his training with Jiraiya, and the places all over the Elemental Nations that they had travelled. Sakura found herself slightly envious of how many places Naruto had gotten to visit. They'd both been studying under Sannin, but Sakura's studies had kept her closer to home. "I actually wind up taking fewer missions each year; at this point I only get sent out for A and S-ranked missions where they're going in expecting heavy fighting and the need for a medic on the scene."

When Naruto caught Sakura stifling a yawn, he glanced at the time. "Wow, it got late really fast. I should let you get to bed."

"Yeah, it's past my bedtime; morning rounds at the hospital start early." Sakura put her hand on Naruto's shoulder, giving him a steady, encouraging look. "Don't let the village idiots get you down, Naruto. You'll be a great Hokage, and for every moron like the ones we saw today there are others who are cheering you on."

"Thanks, Sakura," Naruto said.

Because she was looking him in the eye, she saw the moment that her reflection in his eyes reached out towards her, its fingers beckoning her closer even though she hadn't moved her own body. Startled, she leaned forward to get a better look, and after a moment his mirrored eyes drifted south. Realizing that she had inadvertently given Naruto a good look at her cleavage down the top of her vest, her cheeks turned as pink as her hair. Sakura's initial impulse to apply her fist to the crown of Naruto's perverted head derailed when she was blindsided by the strongest wave of lust and arousal she had ever felt in her life.

Her jade eyes went wide as a flush of heat ran through her body, forcibly reminding her that between wasted years pining for a certain duck-headed Uchiha and long shifts at the hospital, she hadn't been on a date or spent time with a cute guy in far too long. She'd taken a shot at dating Kiba a year previously once he wore her down with admittedly charming persistence and it had been nice while it lasted, but it hadn't worked out and there hadn't been anyone after. Sakura was shocked with how strongly her libido was reminding her that there was a ripped, handsome blond right in front of her.

"Sakura," Naruto said huskily. When she didn't pull back his hands rose, gripping her shoulders.

Sakura felt almost like she was falling into his quicksilver eyes, her pink-haired reflection beckoning and moving closer in tandem with her like moths drawn to a flame. When he leaned forward and kissed her, her struggling train of thought not only derailed but exploded into a million flaming pieces. Things got fuzzy for a while after that, and a minute later Sakura slowly started realizing that she was in Naruto's lap, and her arms were wrapped around his neck. Not only was his tongue in her mouth, but she was returning the favor. She barely managed to untangle her arms from his neck before her fingers rebelled and started unzipping his long-sleeved orange and black top.

Sakura shivered when she felt his fingers slip under the edge of her red vest and his hands hiking up the material, running up the bare skin of her ribs. She moaned, her lips hard against his. Desire and need like she'd never felt in her life slammed into her; needing to be wanted, needing to be loved and to be held. Her gaze met Naruto's mirrored orbs, and even though they were locked in a kiss she could see her face reflected in his eyes, her double's lips moving, forming words she could almost understand.

Her red vest fell to the floor moments later, discarded, and it wasn't until she took note of Naruto's surprised and lustful glance that she remembered what she was wearing underneath. It was had been laundry day that morning and all of her regular underwear was dirty, so she'd had to dig out the scandalous, lacy black bra and panties that she'd tried on and bought at a risqué boutique last year after losing a bet with Ino.

"That's so sexy, Sakura," Naruto said in a hoarse voice that pulled at something below her stomach. Then he was trailing light kisses down her neck and collarbone, and Sakura shamed herself with a needy groan. Where did Naruto learn this? Was he getting tips from that old perv Jiraiya? Or has he been with other girls while he was on the road? Sakura was surprised by the jealousy that thought evoked. Needing to be closer to him, to feel his skin, she got his zippered sweatshirt off of him, but lost patience with the black t-shirt underneath and simply tore it off of him with a burst of chakra-enhanced strength.

"Damn Sakura, what's gotten into you?" Naruto inquired, groaning as she ran her nails lightly down his bare, muscled chest.

"This isn't about what's gotten into me, it's about what's going to get into me," she said, the thought turning to words and spilling from her lips before she could censor them. Oh my god did I really just say that? Sakura blushed crimson at Naruto's surprised look that quickly turned to something hungry; Sakura barely noticed her reflection in his eyes winking at her. She'd never been this out of control in her life and it shocked her to the core. What has gotten into me?

Then Naruto was kissing her again, and pulling her to her feet, and she was kissing him back as they stumbled towards her bedroom, and her rational mind was screaming a dozen reasons why this was such a bad idea, but her rational mind was getting clobbered by the fiercely insistent new part of her that wanted this, wanted it now and damned the consequences. Then Naruto was lowering her back onto her bed, and he'd made her bra disappear at some point during the trip. His lips closed over one hard nipple and she cried out, fingers running through his hair, and Sakura knew she was lost. Fierce, aching need took over.

Since her graveyard shift at the hospital didn't end until five in the morning, it was almost noon when Ino Yamanaka stumbled out of her room, bleary eyed and seeking coffee. Once the life-giving black beverage had been brewed and consumed along with some buttered toast and fruit, the blonde Yamanaka clan heir was alert enough to notice that something was different. Sakura never snores like that, Ino realized, the muffled noises from behind her roommate's closed bedroom door finally registering.

Glancing into the living room, Ino's eyes widened slightly as she saw Sakura's red top lying on the floor by the couch. "Oh, no way," Ino murmured, a mixture of disbelief and gleeful anticipation in her voice. Getting up from the kitchen table, she crept back into the hallway, and her jaw dropped when she saw the lacy black bra Sakura had sworn she'd never wear draped over the handle of her bedroom door.

"Sakura, you naughty minx!" Ino exclaimed in delight. She'd been after her roommate for years to spend fewer evenings in the hospital and more of them out on the town. Dedication to your work was admirable, but Ino worried that billboard brow was missing out on being young and single, and all the yummy shinobi boys she could be wrapping around her fingers.

Ino and Sakura rarely intruded on each other's privacy, but Ino couldn't resist hanging around to see who her roomie had brought home. Sakura hadn't talked about any guys recently – hadn't been seen with any since breaking up with Kiba – and Ino was burning with curiosity. She didn't have to wait long; less than half an hour later she was reading a magazine in the living room when Sakura's bedroom door opened. Ino's green eyes were met by half-lidded blue ones staring from underneath a mop of disheveled spiky yellow hair. "G'morning," Naruto greeted her sleepily. Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

"Naruto?" Ino screeched in shock.

Sakura Haruno was going through her morning rounds at the hospital on auto-pilot, her mind a million miles away. Consultations with patients, healing wounds and mending broken bones went by with half of her attention while she struggled to come to grips with the events of the last day.

I had sex with Naruto, was the stark, jarring thought that kept revolving through her mind. I can't believe I did that.

I can't believe it took you this long, Inner Sakura cackled gleefully. The return of her opinionated alter ego was another thing worrying the pinkette. Inner's activity had waned as she'd gotten older and more confident in expressing herself to her peers, and her other half had barely spoken up in the last few years. But ever since she'd woken up in bed with Naruto this morning, his arms wrapped around her and the heat of his body pressed against her back, Inner had returned with a vengeance, and wouldn't give her a moment's peace.

In the light of day her jumbled thoughts still refused to be untangled. When she'd woken up Naruto had still been sleeping, and without him looking at her or touching her in distracting ways she'd been able to summon the willpower to throw on some clothes and flee to the hospital.

You should have called in sick, woken him up and picked up where you left off, Inner Sakura butted in with her unwanted opinion, and Sakura closed her eyes, seeking some order in her head, because a dangerously large part of her had wanted to do that. It still did, here in the hospital, miles away from Naruto. All that jinchuuriki stamina is good for more than fighting, Inner reminded her unhelpfully. He kept you going half the night and wore. You. Out.

Oh my God shut up! Sakura mentally screamed at Inner, her alter ego's gleeful laughter all the more infuriating because she couldn't deny it. Sakura wasn't a virgin; she'd slept with Kiba while they were dating, but nothing had prepared her for whatever it was Naruto had learned on his extended road trip; she hadn't realized sex could be that good. Why can't I stop thinking about that, Sakura reflected morosely. What's gotten into me?

This isn't about what's gotten into me, it's about what's going to get into me, Inner parroted her words from the previous night, and Sakura was grateful that she was between appointments, because her cheeks turned scarlet and she buried her face in her hands.

Leave me alone, please, Sakura begged Inner, who only cackled gleefully in response. Determined to put Naruto and Inner out of her mind, Sakura got back to work.

An hour later Sakura Haruno was taking an elderly woman's blood pressure when her jade eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed to the floor without a sound.

Author's Note: I have written this story in response to brown phantom's "Hidden Bloodline" challenge:

"We've all seen fics where Naruto inherits or gains a kekkei genkai and gets a scroll, relative, or a knowing teacher to teach him how to properly use it. So what if he got a kekkei genkai but he had none of those things to help him learn what to do with it? And he had to learn how to use it on his own through trial and error?

One, Naruto can only have one bloodline: Check

Two, how he gets the bloodline can happen one of two ways: A. Inherit it from one of his parents or grandparents. B. Have the Kyuubi give it to him Check

Three, the preferred time for him to get/awaken his bloodline is anywhere from the night he became a genin to the Sasuke Retrieval arc: Story starts at the beginning of Shippuden and the time skip was six years not three, because prude that I am, I prefer the characters to be legal (or pretty close) if there's going to be adult content.

Four, Naruto can know two or three things about how to use his bloodline in the very beginning, but nothing that would make him competent in using it or higher than basic lessons. Naruto doesn't have a clue.

Five, NaruHina is the strongly preferred pairing for this challenge. Check. While it may seem so from the first chapter, this is not a NaruSaku story."