Sounding Mirage

Author's Note: It's been a long time since I've had the urge to write. However, after reading a number of fanfics recently in the Naruto-setting, I've found myself interested in getting back into the swing of things. I know, I know- this isn't the first time that I've written a Naruto fic. I still have another one that I didn't go back to after writing two chapters. Mostly, I found it difficult to handle the personalities of the characters I was planning to use as main characters. Even now, I'm worried about this fanfic and the personalities of the characters that I'm going to be considering as my 'main characters.' Anyway, this story is going to based partially upon the "Missing Hokage" challenge by Perfect Lionheart, though I am taking my own liberties with it.

I find the idea of the Kyuubi giving bloodlines/kekkei genkai to Naruto and his ladies (as most of them seem to become harem fics) to be a tad overpowering. Okay, so it's downright crazy in my mind. There are a few other things as well, and despite my being a FemHaku fan, I am not going that route with this story. Instead... well, you'll see. I think I'm going with a new route, though I wouldn't doubt that at least some of this has been done already in someone else's fic. I just probably don't know it yet. I'm also getting a few ideas from other authors that I've favorited stories from- don't blame me, their work is good, even if I haven't actually taken the time to review their stories (yet).

Oh, right. I don't have a Beta, so I'm the only one to blame if I somehow screw up extremely badly. Something else to keep in mind is that I am basing this fic off of the manga, not the anime. Nor am I involving the influence of the movies. Now, I haven't been keeping up with the story arcs too much (let's just say that what I do know is thanks to various video games and such), so don't expect this story to follow the manga canon all that well. In fact, there's gonna be a big deviation from canon in this very chapter. One other thing of note is that the title will likely not make sense to anyone yet... At least, the full meaning won't become apparent for at least the first chapter or two, anyway. Hold tight, I hope to have that at least make sense by

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I don't own the characters, and I'm not doing this for money. If you paid money for this story in paper or digital form, you've been screwed over by someone else. Any similarities of the storyline to other stories is likely to be incidental, a parody, or outright 'borrowed' from that author- this is a fanfic, and when it comes to fan-written stuff, almost everything's been done. Any similarities of this story and events in real life are completely unrelated and, since this fic is based off a manga, absolutely unlikely in any given sense.

These were highly uncertain days for the village known as Konoha. Less than three months after the last stage of the recent chunin exams had taken place, an invasion borne from Suna and Oto wreaked havoc amongst the village hidden in the leaves. Many ninja had lost their lives to the attack, notably genin and chunin ranks had drastically been reduced in population. The emergence of a demon from Sand was merely a rumor in the minds and ears of the civilian population, but the truth had struck it's toll amongst the Leaf shinobi. The emergence of a trio of powerful snake summons and their defeat at the village walls had taken the lives of several jonin shinobi. Numerous civilians had perished, but in the survivor's eyes, one thing that was even worse had happened.

The Third Hokage, the great professor and even better known as the 'god of shinobi,' had been slain. The killer of their village's leader escaped with his four assistants afterward, even as the demon from Sand was dealt with. Many ninja were injured and therefore hospitalized, all while most of the civilians, both those of the village and those visiting from other locations to watch the end of the chunin exams, managed to escape from losing too many lives. While the Konoha council attempted to hold things together, the ninja's line of command was broken without the inclusion of a Hokage to lead them. Civilians had begun to leave the village and commerce faltered.

Some enemy ninja were captured. In fact, the Suna genin that had made it to the final stage of the chunin exam were among the surviving captured, and plans to use the children (known to be the family of the late Kazekage) as leverage to broker an extended alliance between the Suna and Konoha. The process was slow going, thanks to the fact that the councils from neither village could find any points to agree upon. It didn't help that the attempts of one council to contact the other to determine the terms and conditions of the prisoner of war exchange were slow, due to a lack of shinobi from both sides being unwilling, or in some cases unable, to visit the other village.

It was at this time that the loyal sannin, the toad sage Jiraiya, took a boy in orange from the village walls and left to find the next Hokage. In the time it took for them to return, intelligence reports had proven that an altercation between all three of the sannin had taken place just outside of Tanzaku-Gai. The news of their return had been low-profile, with much of the godaime Hokage's attention being placed temporarily upon the ninja in the hospital, with the blessings of the council given to help facilitate the recovery of Konoha's injured and wounded. She also required the time and assistance of the girl that she had brought with her to attempt and begin working on the dangerously high amount of paperwork burdening the hokage's desk that had piled up since the demise of the third.

Some time passed before a genin alerted the newly-appointed fifth hokage as to the desertion of the most high-profile genin of the village. The Uchiha, Sasuke, had left the village. However, with their newest chunin in command of a group of four of the strongest genin given the mission of retrieving the Uchiha, whether the boy wanted to return or not...

It was merely a matter of time before something happened to set off events that would change how things were done in the village. It took only a day and a half for those sent on the mission were returned, either by medical personnel or by the Sand ninja that were pardoned of their crimes against Konoha in exchange for their assistance with retrieving the last Uchiha. The results of the mission were not what had been expected. Each and every initial member of the retrieval team, with the sole exception of Shikamaru naru, had to be hospitalized. Choji had taken the chili pill that his family uses, and it was only after very careful treatment thanks to the archives of the original In-Shika-Cho files that allowed the doctors to save his life.

Neji Hyuuga had been even worse off. It had taken five hours of surgery to regenerate muscles, organs, bones and tissue to the point where he would not be in lethal danger. Still, it would take months for the boy to recuperate naturally. Kiba and Akamaru weren't in much better shape, after being saved by Kankuro. Shikamaru had managed to survive with a broken right pinky finger after his own rescue by Temari and their combined capture of a Sound ninja by the name of Tayuya. Despite the breadth and severity of the wounds and injuries inflicted on Konoha's genin, all paled in comparison to whom was brought in by Gaara and Lee.

Great holes, partially and badly healed wounds, gashes the length of the boy's forearm and even a large slash across the side of his head were only the beginnings of the wounds. Punctures through the chest in two different spots threatened to kill the boy from not only blood in the lungs but also from bone fragments left from the attacks that had done the deed. His left leg dangled uselessly from his body, barely attached, and his trademark spiky hair had been cut short... or cleaved right off from sharp attacks that had very nearly scalped the blonde. It had taken nearly eight hours of constant surgery, and three shifts of doctors along with Tsunade and Shizune's help to handle the blood loss, the cleaning of his body, resetting bones, regeneration tissues and organs and finally restoring some semblance of life even as his body attempted to heal on its own.

Naruto had returned more than half dead to this world, and the entire time his seal was exposed. No attacks came close to damaging it, save for a swipe that had left a superficial cut along his chest and down to his left thigh. As time went on, many left the operating room, while others sat in the waiting room beyond it. Day turned to night, and the number of people in the waiting merely increased in number as the tension in the air got thicker with each person that arrived. At first, it was merely those genin from the teams that had their teammates go. Hinata had been the first to arrive, while Lee and Sakura had been there since the genin had been sent on the mission. Forced to take it easy, Lee had been forbidden to go after Sasuke even after his surgery had been successfully completed by Tsunade.

They were joined as news got out as to the conditions of the survivors, those whom had been sent on the mission, trickled back into the village. Ino was next to arrive, barely twenty minutes after Choji had been recovered. When Neji had been rushed back, the sight of the wounds inflicted upon the older prodigy of the Hyuuga's branch family had shocked Hinata- it took the efforts of both Lee and Sakura to try and calm the poor girl down. Tenten and Gai arrived, and the worried look on Hinata's face and in her body language just seemed to transfer to Tenten as well.

When Kankuro returned with Kiba in tow along with Akamaru, the Inuzuka was completely passed out as a medic-nin continued to siphon the poison from the boy's body using kikai bugs. Shino arrived seconds later and his own swarm practically flowed over to assist with the process as well, following his fellow clan member deeper into the hospital toward the detox ward. It wasn't long after until Shikamaru and Temari walked into the waiting room, a splint on his pinky as he sat down and started staring at the ceiling as he waited. Eventually, a Chunin arrived with the report forms and a pen, giving the Nara heir something to do rather than stare at the ceiling.

And wait they did, for over an hour before Gaara ran into the hospital, shattering the doors and with the medic team following just as fast. On a bed of sand, hovering above the floor was Naruto, his wounds wrapped in bandages that were completely stained red. The boy was completely still, as the ninja flanking his sides and carrying him disappeared into an emergency room and a number of doctors and nurses were ordered into it as well. Gaara returned a moment later, the light above the room's doors going on, and just leaned against the wall to wait for the results.

The barrel, and its occupant, arrived a moment later, carried by a quartet of medic ninja into the last emergency room.

Only two people waited in the hospital all night. The others were led out by their jounin-sensei, or in Sakura's case, carried out while she slept. The two that remained did not sleep- one, was the dark haired genin that was always watching. The other was the chunin who always thought. Neither did anything but sit and wait. A branch member of the Hyuuga clan arrived shortly before midnight, attempting to coerce Hinata to go with her, to which the girl stammered an order to make the branch girl away, and that she would go nowhere until she had news on those she cared for.

Doctors filed out of the rooms shortly after midnight, and the next group filed in. By an hour after midnight, the light above one of the emergency rooms flickered off and the doctors left. One noticed the two youngsters and walked over. "I am happy to report that Neji Hyuuga is resting comfortably. He's lost a lot of blood and we won't be letting him wake up for several days, perhaps a week or two at the longest. He is still in critical condition, but we are certain that he'll pull through." As he said that to Hinata and Shikamaru, Neji was slowly wheeled out of the room by two nurses, following the doctor down the hall and then disappearing as they quickly headed away.

"T-tha... that's good. Thank kami." Hinata whispered, moving back to sit again as she waited for news of the one who was still in the emergency room.

Sitting on the chair, hunched over somewhat with his hands held together in his 'thinking' pose, Shikamaru opened his eyes to look over at Hinata. "You know, you should get some sleep, Hinata. If you don't want to go, just curl up on a chair or something. I'll wake you when someone comes out." The girl shook her head quickly as she looked to him, and smiled gratefully.

"Th-thank you, b-but I w-will remain a-awake. I w-want to b-b-be.." she swallowed softly, but stopped when Shikamaru smiled and shook his head.

"Don't be troublesome, Hinata. If you want to stay, fine. I can't force you to go somewhere unless it's a mission, after all." he sighed softly. "What a drag. My first command and nearly everyone dies." He shivered. "For what it's worth, I wish we'd had jounin or chunin instead of genin to go. They would've had the experience needed to do the job."

Hinata shook her head. "Y-you d-did the b-best you c-could, Shikamaru. E-e-everyone d-did. A-and everyone w-will live. N-no o-one is g-going t-to die." she managed to reply, a fierceness in her voice that Shikamaru couldn't remember hearing since the her match with her cousin during the chunin exams. "N-Naruto is not g-giving up. H-he did n-not give up on me, s-so I w-won't give up on h-him, a-and you shouldn't, e-either!"

The Nara heir just watched her for a moment before he leaned back, slowly releasing his thinking position before he gave the Hyuuga a nod. "Troublesome woman. You're right, of course. We know better than to underestimate our most unpredictable genin, after all." The two shared a grin, then turned to watch the door once more.

The wait continued.

It was not their fault that both the genin and an exhausted chunin fell asleep, but the slamming open of the door at three in the morning woke them with a start that led to them getting to their feet. Out came the fifth hokage, followed shortly by Shizune and the other doctors and nurses that had been in the emergency room for so long. "Be sure take him to the Intensive Care Unit. Have ANBU Cat and Falcon set guards and privacy seals in the room he's taken to." Tsunade barked out, recieving a confirmation from her subordinates before she came to a halt near the waiting room. She hardly noticed the two youngsters, barely more than children, as the question in their tired eyes were unspoken but all too obvious.

She smiled. "That brat has to be the luckiest kid I have ever seen. How he's alive, I may never understand. But don't worry, you two. He's in critical condition, but he's gonna make it." Shizune nodded in affirmation, and Hinata broke out into the widest smile. Shikamaru's shoulders relaxed in turn, but before either of them could say anything, Tsunade shook her head. "No, you can't see any of them yet. Tomorrow. You can see them tomorrow, now go home and get some sleep.

Shikamaru nodded, sighing softly before giving a small smile. "Fine. I'll walk you home, Hi.." and he trailed off as Tsunade caught the slumping Hyuuga, a weary smile on her face as she fainted. "What a drag." the boy mumbled, to which Shizune giggled.

"Tsunade-sama, I'm certain there's a cot around here somewhere she can have for the night." she suggested, and Tsunade gave her assistant a grin. Shizune slowly grinned in return as she caught the hint cast at her. "I'll get it set up." and with that, Shizune rushed away to get things set up. Tsunade lifted the little girl in her arms and looked to Shikamaru.

"Let her clan know that she is safe at the hospital before you get home, would you please, Shikamaru?" the hokage asked, and Shikamaru nodded.

"Fine, fine. It's troublesome, but at least their compound is on the way home. I'll do it, Hokage-sama." he responded, and then the chunin turned to leave.

Tsunade was about to call after the boy as he turned the corner, but stopped when Hinata turned a little bit in her arms, drawing her attention down to the girl. She was still smiling, her hands held to her chest. "Cute girl. Come on, let's get you to a bed so you can actually sleep."

In this room, one could not tell what time it was. The single light that there was to provide any visibility in the window-less room was recessed into the ceiling, covered in glass that was sealed and out of reach. A cot with a mattress that was barely a twin-size sat in the corner, with a single blanket on it. A toilet in the opposite corner provided the sole other place to sit as the occupant of the room rested on the bed. In the month or so that this person had been kept in this place, much had happened outside of it. Inside the room, however, this singular person knew almost none of it. Left only to her own devices for days on end, her solitary confinement was only broken one or twice a week, and was then escorted to another room that had a table and a chair that she was strapped into. The Chakra-Seal that she bore on her back kept her from accessing her chakra network- it was shaped much as a interwoven strands of ink, criss-crossing across her skin along her spine. It also served to paralyze, as she had learned the day that the seal had been forced onto her.

She hadn't been able to walk for a day after that.

The girl's eyes closed, finally, as the light above her head grew dim. Sleep came quickly, as it always did- without any way to gauge time within this room, it was nearly impossible to know how long she had been here. Being in the room left her to her thoughts, her memories... her guilt. And, as such, these things became far more apparent in her dreams. Most often, it was the last day before she had woken up in the hospital within the Village of the Leaf, her body ravaged and crushed by what had caused her to be eliminated from the Chuunin Exam's preliminary round. One arm broken and the leg on the same side had been in the same state. Four broken ribs as well, and a concussion. She knew that if she'd been in her home village, that she would have lost her life rather than been operated on. Their leader was merciless and certainly would not have expended the resources needed to save a failure of a Genin.

The large expanse of the tower's arena had been the site of the preliminary round. It had been used before, but it had been so rare that it was unlikely that it had been kept up very well. The fact that the tower itself resided within the Forest of Death, which her team had made it through, made justifying the upkeep of this building rather treacherous for most genin. In fact, she had heard that just to send a genin team into this place was worthy of a low C-rank mission. As she waited with a confident look on her face, on the same walkway as the team from Suna, the girl found herself looking over the teams that had survived the second round within the forest of death that had the home field advantage. She knew, of course, of several of them... notably, the Hyuuga and the Uchiha. She even knew more about Team 7- the way that the Uchiha held onto his shoulder, near his neck, was all that was needed to be seen to tell her team what had happened to the stern looking boy. It didn't help that they also had run into them back in the forest, and being on the receiving end of a brutal Uchiha beatdown had made the three escape as quickly as they could.

Even now, she knew that unless they won their battles here, that each of their lives were completely forfeit. Reaching back to her lengthy black hair, the girl pulled it over her shoulder and replaced the band that tied her hair together near the end of it, using a gray ribbon that was similar to the snake-patterned scarf she wore over her neck. The other one, she tucked into her pocket as she waited for her chance to fight. The fight between the Uchiha and one of the other Leaf genin went rather quickly, though Sasuke had been at a clear disadvantage throughout most of it. The next one, between that tall bug-user and her partner had been almost as quick and far more one-sided after Zaku's initial Zankuuha attack. She'd snickered after the initial shock of her teammate's loss wore off. He's gonna hate being called Stumpy.

The next match had been boring as hell, for the most part. The blonde girl's using her hair to capture her target, however, had been rather ingenious and interesting- it gave her some ideas. After all, her hair was the longest of all the kunoichi here, and if that blonde could do that with her cut strands... She smiled a bit, even as the two girls jockeyed for position and then rammed forward, knocking each other out with a heavy punch that neither attempted to avoid. A double-KO was announced and neither of the Kunoichi would advance to the third round. Less competition. Good.

The match between the blonde girl from Suna and some bun-haired girl from the Leaf was next and even that one made her cringe. That weapon user doesn't stand a chance at long range, and she'll never get close enough to her to use them effectively. The wind girl wins. Easily. And that indeed happened, as the black-haired girl was propped up on a fan and then thrown away, only to be caught by some boy in green... spandex. Yuck. He can't hide anything at all in that get-up. How the hell could anyone wear something like that shit on a mission? Still, she couldn't help but to look up to the electronic board that was announcing everyone's names as it started forming letters upon it.

Tsuchi Kin vs. Akimichi Choji.

"What a drag... well, you get to fight a girl, eh, Choji?" she heard from across the way, even as she jumped over the railing to land on the arena floor below. The sigh she then heard made her smirk as a tall, yet easily the largest boy in the preliminaries headed down the stairs at a slow gait.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, hold onto my chips, would ya Shikamaru?" The girl on the floor just watched as the boy came to the arena grounds and the proctor, still coughing as he had since the beginning of the preliminary round, re-issued the rules to the two.

Kin shook her head as the boy watched her, as if debating whether or not to actually go through with the fight between them. The girl grinned as the proctor started the match and leapt away to a safe distance. "You know, big guy, you don't get the protection of your teammates this time." Choji frowned, and glanced back up to his team standing above the arena floor on the walkway. "Eyes front, fatty!" Kin yelled, drawing her senbon out along with a few of her special senbon, throwing them at the chubby boy.

His gaze swiftly turned back to the black haired girl and the serious look he gave her startled her, even as he responded with a cry of "Nikuden Sensha!" The taijutsu caused the boy's body to swell into a ball and her senbon simply bounced off the boy's body. Then, much to Kin's alarm, Choji rolled quickly towards her at a rate so fast that she couldn't even begin to ring her bells in time before she found herself hit dead-on by the person she'd called fat. Struck dead center, Kin was sent to the floor and the next thing she knew...

White lights, a ceiling she didn't know, and the steady yet soft beeping of something nearby. The scent of disinfectant and sterilization was obvious even to the untrained nose, and the ragged breathing of another nearby caught her attention.

A hospital. She'd heard of such places before, but had never been in one. There'd only been a clinic or two in her village. She winced as she tried to lift her arm and found herself looking to her right side, where both her arm and leg were suspended by wires that fell from the ceiling. With a sigh, she looked to her left instead, the action causing her to wince even as her eyes came to a surprise- the girl with the hime haircut was there, with a respirator inserted in her mouth, the mask holding it in place over her mouth and nose while the only movement she made was that of her chest and a few slight twitches behind closed eyes... along with a slow and steady beep from the machines that she was attached to even told Kin that the girl was alive.

"Oh, you're awake?" she heard someone say, and Kin immediately shifted to look at the person that had spoken. From a chair that had been pulled up alongside the other side of the girl that she'd been looking at, a boy stood. Kin nodded, and the boy grinned. "That's great!" he exclaimed, though he immediately covered his mouth with both hands and glanced back to the girl that was in such horrible condition. "Sorry, Hinata. I'll be quieter." he said quietly, and then walked around to come closer to the Sound genin. He glanced to the table beside her bed and picked up the hitai-ate that had been set there by someone, and smiled to the dark haired girl.

"Here, this is yours, I think. You're one of the ninja that attacked us back in the forest when I was out of it, weren't ya?" the blonde asked, and Kin nodded. "I thought so. You made Sakura cut her hair." She winced, and Naruto blinked. "Oh, um... sorry. Not a good topic here, I gotcha. So, what's your name?"

Kin just stared at the blonde boy for a moment. Why in the hell is he wearing orange... And that's the same outfit from the forest, now that I think about it. Doesn't he have other clothes? "Kin. Not that it matters. What happened at the prelims?" she asked now, her voice quiet and rather hoarse before the door opened and another boy entered. Kin glanced over and blinked. The same boy?

"Oh, you're awake? Good thing I got some water. Here, if you're thirsty, just let me know." the boy glanced at the other and grinned as the first boy disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Would you like some water?" Kin just stared at him, giving a slight nod in response. "Okay, here... Careful with it, don't want to get the bed wet. Trust me, I know." he stated quietly, glancing over to Hinata for a second before he looked back to Kin and came over to help her take a sip. "Not too much, okay? The doctors don't like it when you drink everything at once."

Kin sipped from the plastic cup that he'd brought in, the cool liquid coating the girl's dry throat before she leaned back. "Oh, right, the prelim round. After Choji, um... yeah. After that match was mine. I beat Kiba and Akamaru pretty good, and they're almost ready to leave the hospital now, too. Well, the vet's in Akamaru's case, I guess." he replied, and then his smile from the memory faded into a frown before looking back to the girl that was still asleep. "Then it was Hinata's match. With her own cousin, and you can see what happened there." His voice lowered to a whisper. "It was brutal, and she was amazing. But her cousin... Well, I'll get him back for what he did to her. What he almost did to her."

The words that came from his mouth made her smile slightly. My teammates wouldn't even do that for me. And these two aren't even on the same team? "Is she your girlfriend or something? Are you related?" The look on the blonde's face was priceless as his cheeks went crimson and he shook his head quickly. "Then why?"

"Because we're a lot alike. She never gave up, until..." Naruto said in a gentle tone, trailing off for a second before he then tilted the cup slightly as Kin attempted to sip from it again. Then he set it down on the table, while Kin set her hitai-ate upon her stomach, the cool of the metal facing causing her to shiver as she felt it through the fabric of the hospital gown she was forced to wear. "Anyway, it's good that you're awake. Maybe you can keep Hinata company when she wakes up too. I can't come in here much, the nurses don't like me here and these aren't visiting hours anyway." He gave Kin a smile. "I'll let the nurses know you're awake though, I'm sure they'll be able to get you anything you need. Maybe I can sneak in some food sometime for you both, if you want. D'you like ramen?"

Kin smiled slightly at the question and then shrugged a little. "Well, I'll bring a small bowl for you sometime, then. It'll taste loads better than the stuff they have here. The crap here is usually pretty gritty and bitter. Believe me, the ramen where I get it from is a thousand times better than what you'll eat here." Kin nodded to him, feeling somehow drained just from the way that the boy was talking.

"So... what's your name, kid?" she asked, and the blonde gave her a grin.

"I'm gonna be the next Hokage. Naruto Uzumaki." he proclaimed, arms folded across his chest as he gave a triumphant smile. "Though I guess if you're from Sound, that doesn't sound like it matters as much as it might to people who live here, huh?" he wondered aloud, then shrugged. "Anyway, you look tired and I don't want to keep you awake now that you're feeling better. See ya later."

With that, the blonde walked out of the hospital room and Kin saw no more.

The light above grew brighter, and despite attempts of the slumbering girl to shelter her eyes from it, it was no use. Groaning, Kin sat up on the bed and turned around, swinging her legs over the mattress and sighing softly as she remembered the past from before she'd been brought to this cell. "Are they ever gonna let me go? Or kill me?" she asked aloud, hearing her voice the first time since almost a week ago. It was followed by a look at the door that was the only way in or out. It was electrified with raiton jutsu, a seal that would go off if she even attempted to touch the damn thing. She'd learned that after touching it the second day she'd been here.

Time flowed like the wind. It never was still for long and she knew that in due time, she would receive something. A sentence. A reprieve... or a coffin. All she knew now was that the invasion of the Leaf had failed, and she was somehow, despite all odds, still alive.

Tsunade was tired, sore, and bordering on chakra exhaustion at this point. Spending almost an entire day trying to save two of her most promising genin had drained even her reserves in the attempt- it was all she could do to slump into her chair and rest her arms one the desk before her. Head lowered, and the old blonde woman sighed. Thoughts of the Hyuuga boy and then the blonde brat filled her head- she hadn't seen such injuries since the third Shinobi War. That might not be saying much, considering that the sannin had been on 'leave' pretty much since then.

She groaned as she turned her head, only to find the pile of paperwork that had been left undone since early in the afternoon, ever since the first injured genin had begun to arrive back from the mission. Choji, in comparison to his teammates on the mission, had been relatively simple to start on the road to recovery. But the severity of situation kept her on hand at the hospital ever since. Damn it brat... if it wasn't for the power of the nine-tails in you, there's no way in hell that you'd be alive. She frowned, and sat back up, glaring at the paper that had been resting on the desk before she had even entered. Shit. The council's gonna go nuts on this one.

Uchiha, Sasuke- Dead on Arrival. More than a few doctors had attempted to revive him, Tsunade included, until the Uzumaki's injuries had been proclaimed to be life threatening. Two doctors were down from chakra exhaustion just from the attempts to restart both Sasuke's heart and his chakra network, to no avail. According to the only Hyuuga nurse in attendance, the curse seal had eaten away at his chakra coils, and was absorbing the chakra used to try and jump start the boy's chakra network.

Even then, the counter-seal did nothing. The boy had been dead before even arriving at the hospital itself, according to Gaara, and there was no evidence of tampering with the barrel, or the seals around it, other than opening the lid of the barrel itself. Was that all that it was? Did that kill the boy?

There was no report from Ibiki yet. The girl that Shikamaru and Temari had captured had not been badly hurt, somehow, and yet had fallen unconscious shortly after Temari's arrival at the scene. With a lack of a report yet, that just meant that she'd have to wait even longer until there was real news regarding the barrel. "Damn it... I need information now!" she yelled, the old woman hidden within a genjutsu gripping at the desk harshly before releasing her grasp upon it. Idly, she pulled open a drawer of the desk and reached into it, past the bottle of sake and the saucers beside it, to one of the scratch it tickets that she purchased every so often.

Using a kunai to display that which was hidden behind the gray film, her eye twitched. "Shizune!" Tsunade bellowed. Several moments later, her assistant appeared in the room, and Tsunade gave her a glare with an intensity that immediately woke her. "Get me Nara's report. Then, go straight to the T&I department and inform Ibiki or Anko to come here immediately. Send Kakashi or Gai to double-check the ANBU guards at Naruto's room, and then to make sure that Sasuke Uchiha's body has not been disturbed from the morgue.

Shizune's confusion was more than obvious on her face until Tsunade showed the girl the scratch it ticket. The dark haired girl froze for a second and then just seemed to disappear afterward.

Getting all 7s on a ticket like this were odds that were almost in the billions to one. There was something coming and she knew her luck. This 'something' was going to be very, very bad.

This time, her reach into the drawer was for the bottle of sake. The saucers were left untouched.

The news had not been good. The girl that had been captured, a Sound ninja by the name of Tayuya, had given what little information she had regarding the mission. As part of the Sound 4, they were sent to expedite Sasuke's exodus from Konoha and to breathe new power into the curse seal, which would otherwise have taken over his body and mind if it remained at the same level it had been at. The report stated that the Uchiha had to temporarily die in order to give the curse seal enough power to 'evolve', as Tayuya had put it.

Temporary had become permanent, when several of Naruto's clones slammed into the one that had been carrying it, and knocked the barrel from the treetops that they'd been traveling along and to the forest floor below. The lid cracked open, and the energies of the delicate seal that had been set in place dissipated completely.

Tsunade sighed. Not good. Damn it, what an understatement. Even Shikamaru's report backs up Tayuya's confession to Ibiki. And then there's that other issue. The one that deals with the entire problem of Naruto's prisoner. We all felt that chakra being used, there's no way around it. When it comes time for the council to convene, that will be a topic of contention... right up there with the Uchiha and his body. The hokage shook slightly before slumping back into the chair she was sitting in, turning around to look out to the sky. The sun had risen and she knew that soon enough, the inevitable stirrings of civilian and ninja alike would make the streets appear almost alive.

That also meant that time was growing short. She was not stupid enough to believe that the main thorns in the side of her sensei wouldn't gain access to the reports and then begin to spin a tale that the civilian council would eat up in a heartbeat. And with the state of Konoha as it is, that bastard Danzo will probably be able to get all the support he needs from them. Both sides consist of equal numbers of councilmembers, but Danzo is not only part of the Shinobi side of the council but also has those two old geezers from sensei's team in his pockets as well. If he manages to gain everyone's support, something bad is going to happen.

"Ya know, hime, it's probably way too early to start drinkin'. Even for you." came a familiar voice that shocked the hokage from her reverie when she found herself with a lecherous grin and a far-too familiar (and annoying) face placed directly in front of her own.

She growled and slammed her palm right into Jiraiya's cheek- the force of which knocked the toad summoner out of the window to smash into, but not through, the furthest inconvenient wall from her desk. "You perverted old man, you know better than to do something like that! And after what happened yesterday, you can't blame me for drinkin' this early. Kami, what a mess today's gonna be."

Picking himself off the floor he'd slumped to from the unceremonious landing he'd performed, face-first, into the wall, Jiraiya shook his head. "And you think being a mess to get ready for a mess is going to make it any easier to clean up and sort out? Really?" A grin slid onto his face. "Face it, princess. With the last Uchiha dead, the civilians are going to look for any excuse possible to place the blame on. This village, to them, is getting weaker the longer that it goes without a Uchiha clan, and now there is no real chance in hell of resurrecting it. Especially without pulling an Orochimaru."

He paused for a moment. "Wonder how that bastard's taking the whole thing? He lost his chance at Sasuke's eyes... Oh." He set up the privacy jutsu quickly, turning back to face Tsunade afterward.

Tsunade nodded slowly. "That's right. Sasuke's eyes are still up on the table. I could take my time and dissect them- might give us the chance we need to not only discover how they work but also how to defeat them. Then again, keeping them around could force Orochimaru to sneak in to steal 'em, too." She grinned evilly. "We could use them as snake bait. But..."

"First thing's first, hime. The council. And there's no doubt that Naruto's up for grabs this time. They'll pin it on him, Tsunade. I have no doubt that they will. The only thing we can do is be ready for it and to try and trip them up." The old man thought for a moment. "They won't do anything to the boy before he recovers. And they can't put him to death- Sasuke's death cannot be completely linked to his opening the barrel... casket... whatever it was that Sasuke was in. Anyway, the best that they can probably do at this point is banish the boy. There might be some who'll call for his death, but there's not enough proof for that. Not to mention his defeating Gaara and the Shukaku to break Sound and Sand's invasion."

"But you know about Danzo's schemes, Jiraiya." Tsunade reminded him, even as the man came to sit down in front of her desk.

"Yeah, I know. But we won't have to worry about that. See, fact of the matter is, the civilians will want Naruto gone before they want him as a weapon. They'd prefer death, but letting him self destruct someplace else, unleashing the Kyuubi upon anyplace other than here? They'll settle for that. As if my student's seal would fail that easily. Bah. The ninja council members will have to make their own decisions, but there's no way in hell that they'd fall into the same trap as the civilians will. Some may vote for banishment, but let's face it. The kid's getting a raw deal here, Tsunade, and honestly anywhere else? Just about anywhere else, he'd be welcomed. He's a hero in wave, did you know that? He's even respected in Suna, from what he did during the invasion. Hell, I can only wonder what they think about the fact that he defeated their junchuuriki and didn't even make chunin."

Tsunade nodded. "Fine, so it sounds like he's in trouble no matter what way the leaves blow. We can probably get some leeway in regards to reviving the Uchiha clan- I've already assigned a team of doctors and nurses to harvest what they can from him before his body stops functioning completely." At the toad sage's questioning look, Tsunade shrugged. "Hell, so we get some sperm from the dead kid and artificially impregnate a few women. Problem is finding willing and capable participants in such a thing. We've got that as a bargaining chip at any rate."

Jiraiya smirked. "Sneaky move, hime. That won't fix the problem of the Uchiha grounds being without its heir now, though, and it won't fix the problem we're gonna have with Naruto. Hell, he's my student and he signed one of Konoha's few summon contracts. If he's banished, that'll break the contract he has with the Toads. It won't be his fault, but it will not look good for us if the toads decide to renege on their agreement to assist the village."

"I don't think that matters much at this point, Jiraiya. But, you make a good point. If he is forced to break the contract with the toads, then he's going to lose one of his strongest abilities to defend himself and others." Tsunade groaned and held a hand to her head as a wave of nausea . "Kami, I feel sick as hell, and I know it's not the sake talking."

"No, that's your common sense attempting to float on the waves of your liquored up brain just after dawn." Jiraiya grinned until he saw the way that her entire body was shaking. "Settle down. We gotta stop getting side-tracked here."

She shook her head. "Look, perv. There's not a lot we can do. They're gonna be aiming for Naruto with the biggest kunai they can throw at him, and he's dead in their sights. I've been on the job, what, a month? Two? And only because of that gaki. I swear, he's loud, annoying, brash and definitely the most dense man I've met since his father. Why in the hell would I want to stay here any longer than I have to, if he's not going to be here? He's the one who wants to be hokage, not me. I'm here to keep the chair warm 'til the brat takes over. That's it."

The serious look she received from Jiraiya, however, made Tsunade sigh. "Hime, Konoha needs a hokage. I'm not respected enough, Danzo's in a wheelchair and looks like he's never going to get those bandages off. The only other ninja in Konoha who might have a chance in hell of becoming Hokage, other than you, is Kakashi. And I've been looking over his records with his team, and I'll tell you now: that boy is not fit to lead a genin cell, let alone a hidden village. Just look it over when you're sober sometime, I think you'll find a number of interesting facts about the team that our gaki is on."

Nodding absently, Tsunade glanced over to the closed door. "That does actually sound surprisingly serious, coming from you, Jiraiya. There is one thing I was looking over, before I gave that mission to Nara and Naruto yesterday." Jiraiya nodded, motioning for her to continue. "We've got a sound kunoichi in the T&I department. Her name is Kin Tsuchi. Would you believe that Naruto and the Hyuuga girl met her in the hospital after the prelim round in the chunin exam?"

Jiraiya grinned. "Really now... Got a picture? The gaki was telling me he'd met a girl in the hospital when he was visiting the Hyuuga heiress." Tsunade growled and the man lifted his hands in an effort to placate her. "Just kidding. Yes, he did mention a girl from Oto. It sounded like the three of them hit it off pretty well. I even heard the girl helped, or tried to rather, against other Oto nin that had attacked the hospital. For a genin in the chunin exam, she wasn't very well trained or prepared." He stopped, a look of comprehension coming to his eyes.

Tsunade, however, just watched him curiously. "What? You didn't just have a heart attack, did you?"

"No, but I just remembered something from the invasion. When sensei managed to defeat the first and the second hokages, and seal Orochimaru's arms, we found something interesting about the hokages that our old teammate managed to bring back to life. They were merely shells, powered by the people sacrificed within them. They acted as a battery for reviving the corpses. The ones inside were two of the Oto's genin team. Her partners."

"So that third coffin I read about...?"

Jiraiya nodded. "It had no one in it. It was a bluff, but it's not unlikely that he meant to use this Kin girl to do the same thing as had happened with her teammates. It wouldn't have worked, but it was a bluff that forced sensei to waste his chakra and strength to stop from happening anyway."

Tsunade frowned. "Wouldn't have worked? Why's that?"

"Because, hime. The other hokages died of normal causes. The fourth, on the other hand? His soul was taken by the Shinigami itself. I don't know what would've happened there. I do know that his ashes weren't there. Orochimaru, nor any of his spies, ever had access to them. I think it was a bluff, and that's all we can hope it to have been." Jiraiya smiled. "Anyway, we have a sound kunoichi. What's the report say?"

"She's a genjutsu specialist, uses senbon needles and bells to use her genjutsu. Doesn't seem to have any real taijutsu skills or anything outside of the Shadow Senbon jutsu when it comes to ninjutsu abilities." Tsunade frowned. "She's barely better than a fresh from the academy genin, in all. Her team was never a team for longer than a month before the exam took place, and they only performed two missions together before being sent to our village for the exam. According to her, they were sent to kill Sasuke after he'd been given his curse seal. Sasuke woke up and took out one of her teammate's arms, and she 'toyed' with Haruno for a bit before the Haruno girl cut her own hair to escape just before then."

"Anyway, long story cut short, she lost to Choji Akimichi in the prelims- you can imagine how, I think. It's unknown if she was ever found or approached by Orochimaru while she was recovering, but obviously he decided she wasn't worth the effort of taking from the hospital in order to go through with that resurrection jutsu he has. After the invasion, she was questioned by Mitarashi and Ibiki, and has been there ever since. Their reports suggest that the girl wants nothing to do with Oto anymore, but she doesn't think she has a place here, either."

Jiraiya nodded once, slowly. "Sounds vaguely familiar. The girl's a fish outta water and certainly needs a place to be. Honestly, she hasn't actually done anything illegal by Konoha standards, has she? And she attempted to protect the hospital. That gives her a few points, in my opinion. Good points, no less. So... what do you want to do?"

Tsunade grinned. "Well, why not do with her what we did with the Suna siblings? We can pardon her. Obviously, she doesn't have any position in Oto worth a damn, if what you say about her teammates is true. She is merely a genin, and an orphan from what she says. She has no ties to Orochimaru anymore, even if she had once. No curse seal, either. Inoichi's scans suggest that she has told the truth in every encounter, and she is beyond angry at Sound." Jiraiya couldn't help the slow smile that came to his face as he appeared to understand what Tsunade was after. "Yep. She might only be a genin, but that means she's basically a clean slate to work with. The girl has a gift with genjutsu and she could even become an excellent ninja if she is trained well and can learn to work with others."

"So you want to instate her as a Leaf genin?" Tsunade hesitated when Jiraiya said that, and then shrugged. Jiraiya frowned. "Wait a second. Are you planning ahead?" She grinned.

"You got it. I don't think we can hold back the tides this time, but we can ready a ship for when the gaki is forced to leave port. And if I can't leave, and you can't take him, then we need to send someone to go with the brat. He isn't strong enough to face the world yet... He'd need to at least make chunin first." Tsunade smiled. "No, we need to find someone whom we can trust with his safety, and those who would go with him. This Kin-girl is a possibility. She didn't attack him when they were in the Forest of Death. Naruto doesn't hold a grudge for long, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they became friends at some point."

The toad sage nodded in understanding. "Well, if we're going to do that, then there's only one real choice. Not only do we need Kakashi here, he can't be trusted with the training of any ninja. I'd recommend putting his lazy ass back to working in ANBU. Haruno might be a choice to send with Naruto, but I don't think it's a good one. She's not that strong, overall. Only her intelligence is keeping her a genin and I honestly have never heard nor seen any real progress from the girl. That is, of course, a result of Kakashi's teaching prowess. Or lack of, anyway. Other than the Ichiraku's, I can only think of one person that we can trust to take care of the boy." Jiraiya thought for a moment. "Maybe two. But she doesn't know Naruto as well as he does. And Naruto listens to him."

"Right. I had been considering taking on an apprentice, but I don't know if she even wants to remain a ninja now. I'll consider her for the job in a month. She was, and I don't know how, but she was close to the Uchiha. He didn't even give her more than a glance, but she liked him far more than a fangirl probably ever should." Tsunade sighed and hung her head. "She reminds me far too much of someone I've been trying to forget about. And who's the guy you're talking about? I haven't had time to go over all of Naruto's records yet."

Jiraiya laughed, and Tsunade looked and glared at her old teammate. "Yeah, there's lots of parallels in Team 7, that's for sure. Of course, some of those are completely gone now, with Sasuke out of the picture. From now on, it's a whole new game for the genin. All of them. As for who I'm talking about, it won't take long. Pull out his academy file. It's about six inches thick worth of paper, can't miss it."

Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. Except in this game, it's kill or be killed."

Two days passed as news of the mission managed to circulate throughout the village. Jiraiya's sources scoured through Konoha, bringing news of various small meetings between the surviving civilian council members and other, influential persons. Several had been done at the behest of Koharu and Honmura, and although fewer in number, even Danzo had been reported out and among the civilians to speak with the merchants and minor nobles and clan members.

For one particular Kunoichi, the past two days had meant little more than time that had been spent at the hospital. She put in training in the early morning and afternoon, assisting her team with the reconstruction efforts and helping to remove various seals and undetonated explosive tags from around the outside of Konoha's walls, to make the forest safe for all once more. But in the early hours of the evening, she brought herself to the hospital, tired yet clean after bathing at home, to visit the one that had suffered the most during the invasion and the recent mission... the failed mission, through no fault of those that had taken it.

Even now, the body on the bed rested, sedated as medications worked throughout his body to facilitate the regeneration of his internal organs and skin. The way that the boy's hair had been cut and mismatched upon his return to the village, due to the damage sustained by the last of the Kaguya clan, had been dealt with her merely yesterday. Now, his hair was more manageable, still spiky but far shorter and now looking more like an actual haircut than half of a freshly cut lawn.

Bandages covered over half of his body now- less than before, but as bones knit back together and pink skin showed its freshness against the tanned, uncalloused epidermis that had been there before, Tsunade had ordered to let the boy's body breathe, rather than simply rest wrapped in bandages and gauze. They were changed once a day, starting today, and it had already been done before the shy kunoichi had arrived. She blushed when she remembered waking in this room just yesterday, a blush on her face as she realized where she was (and had no reason to actually be in the hospital, since she was uninjured).

That had been embarassing for the Hyuuga heiress, but she had appreciated what their hokage had done for her. Now, however, Hinata sat beside Naruto's bed, telling the boy about his day. The door to the room was closed, but she knew that they were being watched. She didn't need to activate her dojutsu to know that, given that ANBU were stationed outside the door... and the single large window that let in the sunset as the sun fell down slowly over the horizon.

"I h-hope y-you don't m-mind, Naruto. But, I b-brought dinner a-and it i-is f-far b-better heated than c-cold." she said, smiling softly as her cheeks flushed red. She was famished, having had only a light lunch, and had gone out to get something to eat today. The two at the ramen stand had even given her the bowl of ramen for free, and as she pulled the bowl out from the sealed scroll that she'd been given by the Ichirakus', she failed to note the way that Naruto's nose twitched a little from the scent.

"Itadakimasu." Hinata said quietly, after setting the bowl down on the nearby table and snapping the chopsticks apart.

"Ita...daki... ram'n..."

The kunoichi spun in place, her eyes wide in shock as she heard that voice. So quiet, soft... familiar, yet to her ears, as foreign as someone from Kiri. Her heart beat quickly as she saw the boy's eyes open slightly, looking toward her. "H-hi, Hinata." He gave as much of a smile as he could, but years of watching the boy told her one thing. As someone who was constantly hurt, berated, and attacked both verbally, physically, and emotionally, this boy was the strongest person she'd ever met. The truth in his smile now made her smile in return.

Shaking, the Hyuuga kunoichi reached for his hand. Bandaged as his hand was, he could not grasp strongly, she found. But she squeezed gently, and his fingers flexed in response. "Naruto... Thank kami." she gasped, her lack of stuttering escaping the notice of the both of them even as the door opened.

"Holy... Geez, Tsunade. I know you told me he'd been hurt and practically gutted, but hell. I wasn't expecting this." came a certain old geezer's voice, prompting both genin to look up and over to the door. Their hands seperated quickly even as Jiraiya chuckled and began to write in a little notebook he seemed to always have with him. That lasted until a smack upside the back of his head knocked the toad sage to the floor, Tsunade walking over the lecher and smiling to the two of them.

"H-how..."

The slug princess smiled to Hinata. "ANBU, remember? I was informed as soon as he woke up. Now..." and she looked back to Naruto, who gave her a grin in response.

"Still wan' the hat, baa-chan." he joked, and then frowned. "Is ever'one okay, baa-chan?"

She laughed, and was joined by Jiraiya as he picked himself off the floor and walked over with his old teammate. "Not even awake five minutes and still wanting to be hokage. Well, let's not worry about the hat yet. To answer the question... yes. Choji's doing fine and Kiba's recovering. Neji is in a coma right now, but we will pull him out of it in a few days. Shikamaru..."

Naruto's eyes went wide when Tsunade trailed off, and the old lady enjoyed the moment of silence before she gave him a grin. "He broke his pinky finger. He's expected to recover in about a year or so. As lazy as that Nara is, I think that's a reasonable expectation."

Hinata giggled and Naruto at least attempted to laugh, though he immediately groaned and felt as if someone had punched him in the chest. With a kunai. "Okay, no more of the laughing for now. Whoever said that was the best medicine had never met Tsunade." Jiraiya commented, but was still grinning at Tsunade's joke.

Naruto's smile fell, and Hinata looked back to him. "N-naruto? W-wh-what's wrong?"

He tried to speak, but the words wouldn't form. After a few seconds, he frowned. "Sasuke?"

"Kid... it was too late by the time you got there and took the lid off that barrel thing. He didn't make it." Jiraiya replied, then sighed as tears started to form in the blonde's blue eyes. "Sorry, Naruto, but we need to get you back to sleep for a bit. You need to heal, and tormenting yourself about this isn't gonna let you do it." A second after that, Naruto's eyes closed and he was asleep after Tsunade used a genjutsu technique on him.

Hinata glared at the two sannin, and while Jiraiya smiled, Tsunade shook her head. "Hinata, he does need his rest and sleeping lets him recover faster. Also, I've been asked by your primary care doctor to take care of a follow up on you later today. She had some concerns about how you are doing after your last check up from the chunin exam. You can have your dinner if you like, but in an hour I want to meet you in the waiting room at the front of the hospital. Don't worry, this shouldn't take too long. It looks like you've been doing quite well since then, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

The genin nodded and Tsunade smiled. "Good. Now, I know you've been on restricted duty with your team, so if all goes well, then this check-up may clear you for standard missions again. Of course, now that Kiba is recovering, it may be a little while before your team can get to that as well." The Hyuuga hesitated, and Jiraiya took note of that.

"Well, I'm off. I've got some errands to run, Tsunade, so you know where to find me if you need me." Grinning, the perverted sage headed out of the room, waving a goodbye even as the grinding of teeth could be heard from Tsunade.

"A-ah... hokage-sama? Wi-will i-it be o-okay i-if I... um, th-that is..."

Tsunade watched her, amused at the girl's stuttering. On one hand, it was cute. On the other hand, it also represented an underlying problem that she could remember from the recordings of her team during the chunin exam. "Hm?"

Hinata swallowed softly, stealing a glance to the sleeping blonde ninja before looking back to Tsunade. "M-may I c-continue to v-visit Naruto?" Tsunade's smile returned in force.

"Of course. You woke the gaki up, Hinata. You're more than welcome here anytime." was the response, before she looked to the steaming bowl of ramen that was quickly cooling off. "You'd better get to eating, or Naruto might wake up and ask for a bite." She gave the blushing genin a grin and then began to walk off. "Oh, before I completely forget..." Hinata turned to face the hokage. "I want to ask you a few questions about Kin later."

"Kin... Tsuchi?" Hinata asked, and the hokage nodded. "I... d-don't kn-know her a-all th-that well. B-but, I'll a-answer wh-what I can."

The door opened and the light flashed brightly overhead as the figure of an old man came into view. The girl on the mattress groaned, sat up and glanced to the door. The next thing she knew, the old man gave a slight nod and a package was tossed into the room. "Kin Tsuchi. Put on some clothes and we'll talk. Konoha would like to extend an invitation to you today."