Another crash shook the ground, and Cole lost his balance.

He looked around, blurs going through the air as each created an explosion.

What the hell was-

"I have to go!" The girl disappeared in a blur, so fast that it made Cole wonder if she were a conduit.

But... No, that didn't make any sense...

Conduits were all supposed to be dead... extinct...

But then, HE was still-

A gust of wind made him cross his arms over his face, shielding his face as dust flew at him.

He looked from under his arms, seeing multiple people sprawled on the ground, all injured.

His eyes widened, then hardened.

Whether he was supposed to be alive or not, he already knew what he had to do.

He ran to the closest one, then looked at the people around him.

They were too far apart...

He pulled one person up, ignoring their groans, and dragged them closer to the center of the imaginary circle Cole made in his mind's eye.

As he continued to do this, it was only when he had started moving the last person when someone showed up.

Cole looked up and saw a girl wearing a blue headband, with a strange symbol on the center of the forehead plate.

She looked at him for a moment, then shook her head, quickly going to one of the fallen people.

"Thank you," she said in the Japanese Tongue, "But I'll take care of them."

Before Cole could respond, she placed her hands on a wound someone had.

A blue aura appeared to Cole's eyes as she moved her hand over it, and to his surprise, the wound closed completely after a long time.

He looked at her, surprised.

So she was a conduit...

However, despite her powers, "Let me handle this." Cole knelt down, positioning himself so he had a clear lock on on one of the injured.

"Please, I'm a medic ninja. It's my job to help, not yours. I appreciate your help but-" She began with a slightly irritated tone (didn't this guy know about medic ninjas?), but Cole had already sparked electricity in his hands, pressing his palms against the injured person closest to him.

A wave of electricity pulsed as the person retched up at the touch.

And each person the wave hit felt something similar to the first person.

The medic ninja obviously looked surprised at this, and then felt her eyes become wider than before when she saw the people all rise up slowly, looks on par with hers.

"I don't care if it's your job. I do what I can." The man said without a glimmer of self doubt in his voice, "Get to safety." He directed, activating Radar Pulse again and looking around, then pointing in one direction, "Go there. No conflict seems to be happening there."

She blinked, watching as the civilians hesitated, then all of them began running in the direction the man pointed.

"Come on, let's check to see if there are others who need our help." He gave her his hand, pulling her up as she got on her feet.

The girl gave him a questioning look as he turned around, seeing his temples suddenly become very veined, looking around.

Someone with the Byakugan...

"Are you a ninja?" She asked, running after him as he suddenly began running in one direction.

"Frankly, I don't jump on buildings and wear all black wherever I go." He stated bluntly, finding another group and healing them quickly, oblivious to the girl's stare, "So no, I'm not a ninja."

Before she could try to help, the people were already on their feet, his fingers directing them to safety.

She stared in slight shock as they went past her.

"Then where did you learn that justu?" She ran with him again, actually getting to help as he found the next group, most of the people spread out.

He actually stopped, blue eyes looking at her strangely, "Justu?"

He shook his head after a moment however, then began dragging people closer to each other.

Realizing what he was doing, she helped him, pulling the people closer to each other, then the man using his powers to instantly heal them.

It still shocked her whenever she saw it.

He kept doing it faster than most medic ninjas could manage.

And the way he didn't need to use the healing justu on certain places and could instead just use it and heal their entire body.

...He must have been either a healing maniac or had some type of special bloodline...

But, he obviously was a part of the Hyuuga clan (though his appearance said otherwise, the Byakugan couldn't simply be picked up by just anyone), yet he didn't know what justu was, heck not even what a ninja was...

"Hey, can you tell me your name?" He looked up at her, meeting her light green eyes, just having started with the eight group of people.

"My name's Sakura Haruno." She dragged another person across the ground, carefully moving them around debris.

"I'm Cole MacGrath." He responded, his last name only leaving Sakura with the former choice in her head to assume, pulling the third person of the group together.

Then he clapped his hands together again, rubbing them and forming static, lowering it down to the person and watching the wave reach the three.

"Okay, we should probably get going faster." Cole turned to the sound of explosions, "I can see them coming closer..."

Sakura looked over a large pile of debris, then felt her eyes widen as she saw the black cloak, red clouds dotting the fabric.

Akatsuki.

It seemed to be a man with spiky orange hair, speaking to a woman with two pigtails in her blonde hair.

Her master, the Fifth Hokage Tsunade.

"Cole, keep healing everyone!" She yelled, then jumped through the air, disappearing before Cole could respond.

He only nodded silently after a minute, knowing he'd have to help the wounded.

Whatever was going on, Cole couldn't help feeling that it wouldn't end well for a while.

But then, the fact that this place was in ruins now might have influenced that type of thinking.

Without another thought, Cole ran to help other people.

Sure, he wanted to know what was going on, but he knew those people mattered more than his own curiosity.

And if that Sakura girl was of any indication, those "medic ninja" would probably really need his help.

Very badly.

As he ran after healing his twentieth group, Cole suddenly stopped, looking around himself.

How far had he gone at this point?

After all, it had been several minutes after Sakura had left to do God knows what, he'd probably need directions for the way to each point.

After all, it was always easy for Cole to get lost whenever in new surroundings.

That was the main reason why he went to a college close to Empire City instead of farther away; at least he'd know what to do and where to go.

He sighed.

Forget it...

He could just ask some of the people for directions, couldn't he?

Though he mentally nodded to himself, part of him rebutted this.

Probably his manly pride complaining...

Regardless, Cole started climbing up the debris, climbing steadily until reaching the top.

Then he looked over a large village turned battlefield.

His eyes went wide, not believing the amount of people dead on the ground several feet below him.

He scowled then, about to do an Ice Jump when he heard a voice.

A woman's voice.

"Do you know where the Nine Tails, Naruto Uzumaki, is?"

He turned to see a woman with several piercings on her face, purple hair tied up.

"No, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone by that name..." He said slowly, knowing even without his radar pulse that she was bad news, her cold unforgiving look matching that of her black cloak, red clouds covering it in various places.

As though to prove his point, white cards appeared from her, and they would move to her will, her arms moving them.

"Then you're worthless. Die."

A/N: Konan vs. Cole next chapter.

Sorry for my delay, and sorry if this chapter could've been better.

I'm several hours up late right now as I try to write this.

I guess I'm just tired.