Black Shadow 14: The Empty Shadow

It was about two in the morning when Shun Nana and Sakura reached Konoha. The village was empty since all of the villagers were asleep.

"Should we report to Tsunade?" Shun asked Sakura.

"Yea probably, I think she would be pretty worried if we got back pretty late."

"Ok then, I'll take Nana back to our apartment, you and my clone to tell Tsunade what happened," Shun said as Sakura nodded. And with that they split.

-At the Hokage's Office-

Tsunade was sleeping head down on her desk after about seven hours of nonstop paper work without rest or sake. She came to when she thought she heard a faint tap on the window. Not even a quarter of the way awake Tsunade looked around before going back to her desk.

"Tsunade-sama," With that Tsunade shot up and grabbed her pen and threw it to the place where she heard the voice.

"Woah…. It's just Sakura and Shun here," Shun said holding the pen Tsunade threw at him. Shun got off the window and stood in front of Tsunade's desk.

"Oh it's you two. Where's Nana and Naruto?" Tsunade asked as she sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Nana's at home resting and Naruto is out on a mission," Sakura reported as she got off Shun's back and stood next to Shun.

"Oh? The Kuroikage got called into action?" Tsunade asked a bit intrigued by Sakura's statement.

"Yea, I don't know the exact specs but Naruto-sama told me he'd be out on a mission, but I have a feeling it's related to Madara in some way," Shun replied.

"I see, so how long will it take for him to get back? I have something for him that I'd like him to take care for me," Tsunade asked.

"There's no telling how long it could take him. Last time took him a month to finish, time before that he was back at the end of day. It's too random to tell when Naruto-sama's coming in," Shun replied calmly.

"I see, well then I suppose I can wait. Anyway welcome back, and you're dismissed," Tsunade commanded as Shun disappeared while Sakura stayed behind.

"If you're worried about Karin and Sasuke, Sakura, they're at the hospital to get a check up on Karin's injuries. Karin's probably in her hospital bed with Sasuke at her side." Tsunade said. Sakura nodded and disappeared, cueing Tsunade to go back to sleep on her desk.

-The Next Morning-

"Ahhhh! Good morning world!" Sakura yawned as she got up from bed. She got out of bed and put on her civilian clothes and reached for her newly completed black forehead protector, which was in the mail she forgot to check yesterday. She had a stylist work on it during her free time since it wasn't too important. Her old red forehead protector was working well, it's just it was getting worn out pretty fast, so she had think about a replacement. Sakura headed for the bathroom finished getting ready for the day and finally looked into the mirror and put on her new black forehead protector where the red one normally was. Sakura looked at it for a while and didn't like the look so she took it off and warped it around her waist. She smiled and walked out of her apartment ready to start her shifts at the hospital.

-Meanwhile else were-

"Has the package arrived?"

"No, the package is not here yet."

"When will it becoming?"

"I don't-" a neck snaps. And the man who was talking to him died by a kunai to the throat. The assassin moved on top of the security wall. The assassin took a few good looks at the place and noticed that there was many guards positioned around the perimeter. With that the assassin left the area.

-Konoha-

It had been roughly a week since anyone that went to Kumogakure had seen Naruto. Sakura had grown increasingly uneasy without Naruto around. Although she'd been living fine for the last five years without him, it still hurt her heart face the reality that he wasn't there. When Naruto came back, it was as if the sword in her side was gone and a big burden had come off her shoulders. But now that burden and sword are back and Sakura was slowly starting to lose it.

At the message tower in Konoha wasn't really busy on that one particular day. At least until they received an incoming bird from Mei of Kirigakure with a very well placed seal on the scroll. The men manning the tower immediately set for Tsunade's immediate presence.

Tsunade, at the time, had just completed another stack of paperwork. Shizune came in with another stack of paperwork which made Tsunade sigh. Tsunade reached for her bottle of sake and took a drink from it. Shizune put the stack of paper work on Tsunade's desk before saying, "Wow I'm impressed Tsunade-sama. This is the last stack of paper work before we're done."

"Is it now? That's quite odd, I thought the paperwork never stopped filing in," Tsunade remarked since it was a first time ever she would have accomplished finishing every single stack of paper work Shizune had.

"Well it might have been impossible, but you've been keeping yourself at your office for the entire time that Naruto has been here," Shizune complemented.

"Well I mean the brat is going to take over sooner or later, so might as well give him a clean slate to write on right?" Tsunade joked. Just then a man from the message tower busted through the doors and got on both knees and bowed while shouting "TSUNADE-SAMA! WE'VE RECEIVED AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM MEI-SAMA!" Tsunade motioned for the man to give her the scroll. He did and she unsealed the scroll and read the message inside.

"….. Shizune, get Sakura, Nana, Shun, Sasuke and Karin to meet me her. NOW!" Tsunade roared as Shizune took off and the man hurried back to his post.

"So what's up?" Shun asked as he popped through the door along with Nana.

"I got some rather disturbing news regarding Naruto's mission," Tsunade roared with a calm unrivaled fury. With that Shun's heart skipped a beat.

"WHAT?" Shun shouted as Nana tried to calm him down.

"It's not pretty but we need to wait for Sasuke Karin and Sakura to get here since Mei requested that they be at present at the time unseal the seal," Tsunade said holding back her anger again. At that moment something clicked in Shun's head. Shun left his consciousness and met up with Kyuubiko in Shadow Space.

"Kyuubiko-sama is something the matter?" Shun asked in a respectful tone.

"Please make a shadow clone for me to materialize into," Kyuubiko requested. Shun nodded and went back to his consciousness. He formed a seal and a shadow clone appeared. Nana understood what was going on while Tsunade looked dumbfounded.

"He's bringing out the hidden member of our little group," Nana said which made Tsunade a bit more uneasy. By that time Shun already had transported Kyuubiko into his shadow clone and the shadow clone took her figure.

"Shun who is this?" Tsunade asked a bit intrigued by Kyuubiko's fox like appearance.

"This is Kyuubiko, the daughter of the feared kyuubi before he pasted on appearently," Shun explained with Kyuubiko following up with, "Doozo Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu," –Basically an expression used when you first met someone.-

"Wow, you're the daughter of the Kyuubi? Can a tailed beast have a kid to begin with?" Tsunade asked, dumbfounded by the fact that the thing in front of her is nice and civil.

"No, I still technically am the Kyuubi, but my father's thoughts and evil aura are gone. I guess you could call me a kyuubi reincarnate, just in a different form," Kyuubiko explained.

-Elsewhere-

"OW!"

"Look if you can't help but feel the pain, at least try to hold it in."

"Karin, moving a cracked bone from the outside is difficult, unless you want me to open you up and-"

"OK OK OK YOU MADE YOUR POINT SAKURA," Karin screamed at the thought of someone looking into her innards and poking them.

"I thought you'd see it my way," Sakura said as she gave Karin's arm a good but gentle push and put it in place. She then patched up and used her medical skills to speed up the healing process.

"There all done," Sakura said somewhat happy.

"Geez that hurt a lot, but anyway thanks," Karin said as she walked outta the room followed by Sakura. They saw Sasuke talking with Shizune outside at the end of hallway.

"So what's going on Shizune?" Karin asked as she skipped over to Sasuke's shoulder and leaned on it.

"Tsunade-sama's calling for you three now. It seems like there's some information regarding Naruto," Shizune said as Sasuke's and Sakura's eyebrows immediately raised and both bolted to the hokage's office with Karin following.

-At the Hokage's Office-

"TSUNADE WHAT'S THIS NEW INTEL ON NARUTO?" Sasuke roared as he entered the window of the hokage's office. Sasuke's eyes where full of anxiousness and anxiety for this information regarding Naruto. Sakura and Karin appeared next to Sasuke a moments later, both filled with a lot of concern for Naruto's fate. The three of them focused so much on Tsunade that they didn't notice that Shun Nana and a strange fox maiden where in the room as well.

"Good timing, you three," Tsunade said as she began to unseal the seal on Mei's message. Clouds of white smoke filled the room. Too much to that nobody could see anything unless it was directly in front of their face. As the smoke started clearing up, it became clear that there was something on Tsunade's desk. It took the shape of a human laying down on the desk. But there was something sticking out of it. The object became clear that it was a katana and it was stuck in the body. The smoke cleared and the scene became clear. There was a body wrapped in cloth with a katana stuck in the body.

"Who's body is that?" Sakura asked somewhat concerned about the identity of the body. 'Could it be Naruto's? No he wouldn't be the one to die so easily! I must be a spoil of victory that he asked Mei to send back. Yea that's what it has to be!'

"Well who is it?" Shun asked started to grow impatient. Tsunade nodded and took of the bandages starting with the feet. As the bandages started to come off, the body became increasingly similar to that of a Konoha jounin. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but Tsunade keep on unwrapping. By the time she got to the neck, body was dressed in the standard konoha gray jounin vest, long blue sweat pants, a pair gloves covering each hand and sandals. Tsunade finally completed unwrapping the bandages, and the man's face was revealed.

"Who is it?" Karin asked as she looked closely at the body along with everyone else.

"I think it's a one of the konoha jounins here at the village," Nana concluded by just observing what the man was wearing.

"I don't think so. None of the jounins have left the village since you guys left for Kumogakure," Tsunade stated, earning Nana a frown.

"Well then who is it?" Sakura asked, not very concerned since it wasn't Naruto, but it was still a body. Kyuubiko then walked up to the body, and took the sword out. She then walked over to Sakura and handed her the sword.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, kinda startled by the fact that there was a fox woman like thing standing in front of her.

"This is for you, from Naruto. The body is for a funeral here at Konoha, or I believe that bodies would be the proper term," Kyuubiko said as the body on Tsunade's desk fell over and rolled to the middle of the room. This revealed another wrapped in some more bandages, but this one was missing an arm.

"Kyuubiko who are these people?" Tsunade demanded.

"The one that fell was Itachi Uchiha, and the one on the desk is Jiraya-sama," Kyuubiko said before she disappeared. Sasuke was startled and rushed to the body on the floor with Karin following closely behind. Karin began checking the body and confirmed what Kyuubiko said. 'How can this be? I…I…I killed him, and burned his body!' Sasuke thought in disbelief.

'J-J-Jiraya?' Tsunade thought as stared at the body on her desk.

'Why did Naruto give me a katana?' Sakura thought to herself. She was confused and didn't know what to think.

"Naruto-sama, you can come out," Shun said as he threw a kunai to the message scroll on Tsunade's desk. The scroll let out more smoke and a body appeared infront of Tsunade's desk. The body was sitting down with what looked like two kunais pointing out of the body's arms. The body was moving since it was breathing. However this breathing was heavy. As the smoke started to clear everyone's eyes started to widen and eye brows began to rise. They noticed an orange track suit and yellow hair. When Tsunade noticed yellow she immediately ran around the desk to check on who it was. The smoke cleared and it became apparent that it was Naruto. But he was battered bruised and broken. He had many rips in his track suit and a large slash gash going down both arms. His both of his legs where covered in blood and his face was busted wide open, so the blood was just flowing freely. There was even some blood that got on his yellow hair at the very top his head. When the image of Naruto came across everyone's mind, they were startled. Sasuke and Shun both gritted their teeth and started squeezing their fists. Tsunade was horrified. Nana and Karin just stared on, emotionless and frozen with fear. Sakura started to tear up and screamed in disbelief,

"NARUTO!"

-End of Chapter 14

-A/N: What's up people. So I'm gonna switch between black shadow and chromos chronicles on chapters unless I've got ideas flowing and such for one specific story. But yea, if you noticed, this chapter is much shorter than my average for most the other chapters in heck all my other stories. So don you guys like the shorter chapters or would you like to see longer ones? Please leave a review lol. Thanks again for reading hopefully you all enjoyed it!-