"Talking"

"YELLING"

thoughts

Demon/Summon Speaking

Demon/Summon Thinking

The Return

Naruto returned to the village of Konohagakure with a look of defeat set upon his face. He was bloody and bruised, and showed obvious signs of a huge fight taking place just moments before. His usual grin that would almost light up the sky was replaced with a frown, as he knew how everyone was going to react as he returned to the village.

The main gate to the village opened as Naruto came closer to the village. With shoulders slumped, and tears in his eyes, he painfully stumbled his way into the village. He looked up for a brief second and looked around. He noticed a crowd of villagers and shinobi alike all rushing to the gates to greet him. One such person rushing to greet him was a pink haired kunoichi by the name of Haruno Sakura, Naruto's teammate from while his other teammate was still in the village.

She was the first person to say anything to Naruto upon his entry to the village. "Where's Sasuke-kun? He's coming right behind you isn't he?" she said, desperation clearly evident in the tone of her voice. Naruto was so ashamed he couldn't even raise his head, or look her in the eye. He couldn't even muster up the courage to speak, so he shook his head no. At this action, a look of confusion spread across her face."If Sasuke-kun isn't with you and he's not coming right behind you, then where is he Naruto?"

"He's... He's..." Naruto began to say but he couldn't finish the sentence, it was too painful for him to tell her the truth. Naruto then fell to his knees and told Sakura "I'm sorry." before finally collapsing. Tears then began to form in Sakura's eyes understanding what the blond was trying to apologize for. Her Sasuke-kun wasn't returning to Konoha. She quickly turned and ran away from the scene, and the crowd of villagers parted for her as she ran off.

Oh, Naruto-kun came the thoughts from one of the kunoichi in the crowd, as she ran out to his lifeless body, and carried him to the hospital.

"Hokage-sama! Naruto Uzumaki has returned to the village!" The ANBU that had noticed the scene reported to the Godaime Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves, also known as Konohagakure. The male ANBU's face may have been hidden, but his posture gave away two things to the Hokage: One, the ANBU was ecstatic for the return of the hyperactive ninja, and two, there was a sad situation regarding said ninja. The Hokage easily picked up on both of these facts.

"That is great news, but how come you are reporting this to me, and not him?" She asked the ANBU standing in front of her. The look on her face was one which practically screamed "if you don't tell me a favorable answer, be ready for some pain." Upon seeing the look on the Hokage's face, he audibly gulped, and answered "He was just admitted to the hospital. He has numerous wounds and passed out on the streets while was was talking with your apprentice."

At this news the Hokage jumped up out of her seat. Forgetting she was a ninja for a moment, Tsunade then ran as fast as she could towards the hospital to check on her favorite blond haired ball of energy. As soon as the Hokage entered the hospital the receptionist instantly knew who she was looking for, and directed her to the room that Naruto was currently in. Tsunade made it to the room in record time and opened the door and entered. She didn't have to look around long before she was looking at the blond who was unconscious in the bed. If it was anyone else besides Naruto, They'd probably have been dead before they even made it to the village gates.

Within moments of Tsunade reaching the side of Naruto, the door opened again, and four med-nin joined her in the room, and they got to work trying to repair as much of the damage to the young blond boy's body as possible. Why hasn't the Kyuubi healed him? His abnormally fast rate of healing should have healed quite a bit of his wounds. What happened out there? Was the last thought that crossed the large chested Hokage's mind as she exited the room, after several hours of work to heal the boy.

The moment she closed the door, she noticed someone standing outside the door, waiting for news on his state. "Hokage-sama, How is he? Is he going to be alright?" asked the person waiting there. "He's stable for the time being, however..." the Hokage said, as she began to look towards the ground " For how long, I'm not sure. I've never seen Naruto this beat up in all the time I've known him." She then turned and walked down the hall, on her way back to the office to face one of her most dreaded enemies. Paperwork.

The worried person entered the room, and sat down by Naruto's bedside, hoping for the best. Please Naruto-kun, The Hokage needs you to recover. The Village needs you... I need you. Please come back to me. They thought, as they held Naruto's hand. Hours passed, and the individual was still at his bedside. Nurses came in to check on Naruto, and tried to get them to leave, but they were adamant about staying by his side, and so they stayed there over night, still clutching Naruto's hand.

When Tsunade came into the room the next morning to check on him, she noticed the person still clutching his hand. The person was slouched forward, with their head resting on the bed. It looks like I'm not the only person that's genuinely worried for him. A small smile crossed the Hokage's lips, as she woke them up. "I need you to leave the room temporarily. I should only be a few minutes, but I need to do a check up on him and unfortunately I can't have anyone in the room for it. You're more than welcome to come in once I'm done." The individual nodded, and walked out of the room while the Hokage did her examination.

Tsunade walked out of the room, and to no surprise at all, she saw the person waiting anxiously outside of the room. "I'll be honest, I'm glad that you're showing interest, and staying by his side through this. Not many people in this god-forsaken village would do such a thing for him." She admitted with a smile on her face. She placed a hand on their shoulder, and said "That being said, I'll be honest with you. It's not looking good. Physically, he's fit as he was before he left. There's not a thing wrong with him. He's fully healed. However, none of us are sure when he'll wake up." A look of complete sadness was evident on both of their faces. "I'll be bringing Inoichi in tomorrow to see if he can find out what happened to cause this, or even find a way to wake him up... But we don't know how it'll turn out at this time."

-AN-

So, this is my first ever fan fiction. This came to me after listening to a song called Witch Hunt by Children Of Eve. If you haven't heard of them, I don't find that unlikely. They are a band that is local to where I live. They disbanded over a year ago.

If you're wondering why I have referred to Naruto's visitor without any details of who it is, it is because I haven't decided who it should be, or who to pair him up with. As this is my first fanfic, I'm open for any and all criticism, flames, reviews, tips, and ideas for what you think may or should happen in the story. As I haven't decided on a pairing for this story as of yet, If you leave a review and suggest a character I will certainly try and add them into the story, or even make them the character that's by his side. On another note, I do not have a beta reader, so this is all thought up, and edited by myself. If you would like to beta read for me, feel free to send me a message.

I hope you've all enjoyed the story so far, and remember reviews of all types are always welcome.