Hinata was crying over Naruto's bloody body when her father landed, he looked over the scene as he looked at the motionless Cloud ninja also there; the man looked like a wild animal had torn into him. There was a slash mark on his face that looked like it had destroyed one of the eyes, his face was bloody and bruised his arm was hanging in a way that wasn't natural either.
He looked at the young boy and the blood soaked clothing and he had to wonder just what kind of strength this young boy had to do that to a ninja.
Hinata looked up, her eyes all red and puffy from crying, she had blood on her clothing and a bruise on her face obviously someone had hit her in order to stun her. His blood ran cold at the thought of someone going after his family like that.
"F-f-father please help him!" she cried out to him.
He knelt down as his brother and a few of the guards landed onto the scene too. Hizashi Hyuga looked over the scene with shock on his face at the other ninja. He bent down and checked for a pulse, "This one is still alive."
Hiashi nodded his head as he checked on Naruto, he didn't think the boy was still alive with that hole in his chest but when he checked he was shocked to see that he was still breathing, he had a heart beat but it was feint he had lost too much blood as it was. He ripped part of his robe as he pushed it against the wound to slow the blood loss.
"The boy is still alive! Send for the healers and send someone to the Hatake home, Kakashi will want to know about his son as soon as he can," although he didn't know that Kakashi was on a mission at the moment he knew that his brother could be trusted to make sure that no matter what Kakashi knew of this.
His brother was already issuing orders when a group of ANBU suddenly appeared and the Hokage himself came into the scene. All of them had rushed to this area as fast as they could the Hokage was even a bit out of breath. It was times like this he hated being old, but he didn't let such things keep him down. He looked at the scene and he could already guess at what happened but he had to ask, "Hyuga-sama what happened here?"
"I'm unsure but that man there was a guest in my home, but there was a large chakra spike and I found the boy fighting him who had my daughter in that bag over that. But the boy is losing blood and needs a medical ninja here fast or he might not live." Hiashi quickly explained.
The Hokage moved to get a clearer look at Naruto and he was shocked to see such an injury, "Take that man to the hospital but under guard. He is to have no contact other then medical staff or myself is that clear?" he commanded to the ANBU who nodded their heads.
One of the ANBU stopped for a moment to look at the young boy, for a moment it was like the ninja was trying to look into Naruto as through to try and make sense of him. But he quickly went back to work as they carefully pried the ninja off the wall and they carried him away. The Hokage helped to carry Naruto into the Hyuga compound to the nearest room. The old man looked at the young boy with fear in his heart, he knew that the life of a ninja was a hard one and yet this young boy wasn't even a ninja yet and could die tonight.
He had seen a lot of death in his life, seen a lot of hardships but to watch a young boy that he knew and cared for like another grandchild dying was hard to take. Thoughts came back to his new grandchild Konohamaru, and how it would be to lose him like this. Quickly he and Hiashi stripped off his shirt and although the wound wasn't bleeding much he was still in danger. A sniffled caught their attention and they both turned to see a wide eyed and very frightened Hinata looking at them.
"This is not a sight for you to see daughter, get out now." Hiashi commanded his daughter who flinched but actually didn't move.
Just then his wife came into the room and a hand went to her mouth at the sight of Naruto. The young boy had only had a meal with them not that long ago and there he was with a bloody chest.
"Hannah please take our daughter from here," Hiashi told her.
Hannah agreed with this, this was not something her daughter should see. She took hold of her daughter's shoulders and started to lead her out of the room. They left as two of the healers that worked at the compound ran into the room and closed the door behind them. Hinata couldn't stand it anymore, she turned around and buried her face into her mother's robes and cried her heart out. She had been so scared and then Naruto had saved her and now he might be dying.
Naruto was her first and best friend, he always made her happy and feel better about herself and now because she couldn't fight he had gotten hurt. Hannah only held her daughter trying to sooth her as much as possible. Hinata still could see the blood all over Naruto's body when she closed her eyes and she felt totally helpless.
Hannah cradled her child, every cry brought pain to her heart. She had never heard her daughter cry like this. "It will be okay Hinata, I'm sure he'll be okay they're in there now making sure of that."
"B-b-but w-what if...w-what if..." She chocked out.
"Something tells me that boy won't give up and you shouldn't give up on him either," she said to her and Hinata nodded but she still cried. They waited for over an hour until the doors slid open and her father and the Hokage came out looking tired as were the medical ninjas.
She looked up at them with hope and dread not sure if Naruto was alive or dead. The Hokage looked down at her and he gave her a small smile and a nod of his head. Hinata's eyes watered up knowing that Naruto was alive and rushed to his room to see him. Hannah came up to them also relieved to hear see that the boy had survived.
"How is he?" she asked them.
"The boy seems to just refuse to die," her husband said in a neutral tone but she knew that for him that was actually a joke. She hadn't spent years with him not knowing how he hid his humor at times.
"Thanks to his 'guest' that is inside of him Naruto's healing abilities are greater than normal. He should have been killed by that kunai but he still lived." The Hokage smiled shaking his head at the boy, "he's full of surprises. The wound is closed but the medics want to take him to a hospital tomorrow but he's out of the woods. He has lost a lot of blood and is suffering from chakra exhaustion so it will take him time to recover."
"That is good to know," Hannah looked at the doors to the room, "If he hadn't been there I don't know what would have happened to Hinata..."
Her husband nodded his head, he hadn't been sure of the Hatake boy. He may have been a bit weary of him but after tonight he had a lot to think on.
Hinata meanwhile walked into the room as the medics were packing up. She saw how his chest was all bandaged up and the red stain on the center of it all. He looked kind of pale and he had his mask off, she saw it there in a pile of his clothing and picked it up. She walked over to the small bed of the unused guest room and sat down next to him. She felt a few tears again and touched his hand gently, she held his hand hoping that he could feel it.
He just sat there looking at him, watching over him holding his hand in one hand and his mask in another.
"Hinata-sama," came a gentle tone and she looked over to see Neji there. "You should get some sleep after all that's happened."
Neji had come to check on her, after what he had felt and seen with his eyes he had been worried. He looked over at Naruto puzzled by the boy. He hadn't developed his bloodline as well as an adult but he had felt that power. It literally had sent chills through his bones and he couldn't believe that this boy had been the source of it all. He saw the blood on the bandages and his early assessment of Naruto was obviously wrong.
There was something different about Naruto, he wasn't normal that was for sure. A kid like him and taken out a full fledged ninja that was something that Neji could admit that he couldn't do. 'Who are you Naruto Hatake? What is this power you have?'
"I...I don't want to leave," Hinata said and Neji was surprised. Normally she would just do whatever someone asked plus she hadn't stuttered.
"He needs someone here...and...and I want to be here for him..."
Neji nodded his head as he sat down in the room, "Then I'll help."
She looked up at him and smiled as he gave a small one in return. He looked at the boy noticing the strange marks on his face, they seemed to be mirrored on his mask and Neji wondered if this was the sign of some bloodline like his eyes, and wondered if Naruto's father had the same marks.
-Mindscape-
Naruto had no idea where he was, he felt wet and cold. He groaned as he pushed himself out of some water thankfully it wasn't deep. He looked around it looked like it was underground with pipes and stuff. It was dark and dank and he really didn't like it. He sat on a dry area out of the water as he looked around.
"Where am I? The last thing I remember was..." he bolted up remembering the fight with the ninja that had taken Hinata. He remembered dodging the shuriken and then a pain in his chest...then he remembered that he had been STABBED!
He looked at his chest and there didn't seem to be any damaged which was weird. "Am...Am I dead?"
Naruto looked around again, if this was the afterlife then it was a major let down. If this was heaven then were was everyone? That led to the question if this wasn't heaven then that only left one other place and he didn't want to think about that. He walked on trying to see where he was and what was going on. He eventually found himself at a dead end with large bared caged with a simple piece of paper that read 'Seal' on it.
"Great...I wonder if that's the way out?" He muttered and started to walk closer to see what was on the other side. It was really dark and he couldn't make anything out, he thought he heard something as he got closer to the bars and then he saw there was something inside of it, something really big. Two large glowing eyes just seemed to pop out of the darkness.
Naruto jumped back as giant claws nearly hit him as they were stopped by the bars.
"So this is my jailor...how pathetic."
"W-What?"
"Stupid boy if you only knew what you really were."
"What do you mean?"
"Take of this seal and I'll show you."
Naruto looked at the seal and then at what was behind the bars, he could feel the anger and hatred coming off of it. He really didn't want to let it out and felt that if he did it wouldn't be a good thing. He couldn't totally make out what it was but there was a red glow coming off it now and Naruto backed away a bit more.
"I think I'll pass on that."
The thing roared and smashed against the cage making Naruto jump, "You little brat! Open up this cage you can't keep me a prisoner forever! One day I will get my freedom again and I'll finish what I started all those years ago."
Naruto wasn't sure what he was talking about but he was threatening the village and he wouldn't stand for that, "The hell with that! I don't know who or what you are but I'll protect my village!"
"You? Ha! You couldn't protect that girl without my help," the creature laughed at him.
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked angrily.
"Fool, it's me that makes all your injuries heal so fast. Didn't you ever wonder why you heal the way you do? And how else could you survive a kunai in the chest? The only reason you are alive is because I need you alive but the day that chances I will no longer need to keep you alive brat."
Naruto had no idea what was going on, he was getting nothing but questions as this thing kept on talking. He never really gave it much thought why he healed like he did, he had figured that he just healed fast and left it like that, did he really heal faster than normal? Plus why did this thing need to keep him alive?
"Who the hell are you, and why do you need me alive?" Naruto shouted at the cage.
He only got a laugh in response, "You'll find out soon enough brat, but I think you're waking up now. But know this...we WILL meet again."
"The hell does that mean? What do you mean waking up and why the hell can't you give me a straight answer!?"
But he didn't get his answer, it seemed like the world around him shifted and he was back in the blackness. He felt tired, aching and really heavy for a moment as his mind tried to focus. He managed to open his eyes he was confused for a moment as he was trying to make out what he was looking at, it was a ceiling but not one he was familiar with. He tried to get up but his chest really hurt and he grunted as he fell back down.
There was a small muttering and a shifting on his left, and he found that his arm had gone numb. He looked and saw a familiar set of hair on his arm. He blinked wondering why Hinata was sleeping with her head on his arm like that. Then his eyes widened that it was Hinata there, the last thing he remembered was the ninja taking her and a few other things. He looked at his chest to see his shirt was gone and blood soaked bandages over his chest.
"My dad is going to be pissed..." he muttered.
"Only a little," Kakashi said from his place silently.
Naruto looked to his right to see his dad sitting in a chair, "Hey...how long you've been there dad?"
"Long enough," he sighed and walked over to him it was obvious that he was worried about him. "Don't try to move okay? You are very lucky Naruto you nearly died last night."
"Sorry to make you worry dad...but I had to do something...I didn't want her to get hurt..."
Kakashi nodded and ruffled his hair a little, scenes of that mission with Obito and Rin came flashing back. He had gone on ahead while Obito had gone back to save Rin. He always wondered how things would have worked out if he had gone back with his friend instead of moving on and then changing his mind and then going back. Naruto hadn't even hesitated and had gone to defend the young girl.
"I know son...I'm proud of you. Now get some sleep, we'll move you to a hospital later so you can rest up."
"Okay...man I had the weirdest dream too, I better not dream of that cage and that thing in there again," Naruto said before he fell asleep leaving Kakashi wondering just what he was talking about.
-Later that day-
There were some things that the Hokage hated about this job, the paperwork was one of them. Then you had to spend all day making up missions and trying to figure out who went where, he also would have to keep his training up, and a lot of other little things that ate up a lot of his free time. Sometimes he was so tried he just didn't want to get out of bed but he had a job to do.
Now he was doing another thing he hated, talking to the council.
The council room was packed as many had spent the day in near panic when they felt the Kyuubi's chakra. Many had known what they had felt and there was much confusion going on, since the majority of them had thought that the fox was dead. Now he was in a tight spot, many of the clan heads knew the secret but there was no way to hide things now. There were some new faces as the civilian leaders were also present, when there were things that dealt with the civilian population there was a group that dealt with that.
Mainly they kept things like the businesses running, the regular schools and other things that the civilian population, this was known as the administrative council, or the 'lower' council by some members of the main council that was made up of the various ninja clans. At the moment many were in a panic over what had happened last night and there was still the fact that somehow the Cloud village had known they had one of their own in the hospital, which meant they had Cloud spies as there was an official group from Cloud.
It was just one headache after another it seemed today.
Sarutobi looked over the crowd as he wondered what to tell them all, if he told them only part of the story and the rest came out it would be bad for him. But there was also the fact that he wanted to protect Naruto as well. He wasn't in a good position and from the looks of things some were just jumping at the chance to not only drag his name down but also finally to get rid of Naruto with this event. He sighed as he prepared himself and hoped that his wisdom would help him out with this.
"Hokage-sama we demand to know what happened last night," one of the civilian leaders shouted out. "There are rumours all over that the Kyuubi is back, that he was never killed to begin with. We deserve to know if our lives are in danger."
This was met with lots of other voices that agreed with the sentiment and the Hokage had to make a tough choice. "I feel that you all now have a right to know, the Kyuubi was defeated all those years ago...but he was not destroyed."
He waited for the reactions to that to settle down, "The Fourth couldn't kill the demon it was too powerful even for him but he did manage to seal the demon away, he imprisoned it forever. You see he used a child born that terrible day as a living prison that would keep the Kyuubi sealed and safe from the entire world."
"Then what was that last night and why were we not told!" Someone shouted out.
"Some of the body here where told but I felt that it was decided that the boy would have a normal life, even he does not know what he keeps inside of him. And as for last night...there was an incident at the Hyuga clan compound, the Cloud ninja that you all heard of that was visiting apparently attempted to kidnapped Hiashi's daughter."
Again more reactions as many cast looks to the Hyuga clan head.
"The boy was gravely wounded trying to save the young girl, and somehow he managed to access the chakra of the demon."
"Who is this child? And what makes you think that the demon isn't in control of him?" The head of the trade commission asked.
The Hokage sighed hoping that he wouldn't have to reveal this but he knew it had been a fool's hope. "He is Naruto Hatake the son of Kakashi Hatake."
That sent many in an uproar, the fact that all of this was secret and yet there was a lot of confusion since the name of Kakashi Hatake carried a lot of weight. His actions were nearing legend status and he was one of the best Jonins that Konoha had at the moment as well. Some didn't want to go against the Copy Ninja for various reasons, some out of respect others out of intimidation.
"Then the boy is dangerous," Fugaku stated simply to them all. "If he accessed that power regardless if it was the boy or the demon that power is not meant for a small boy, and if he can access that demonic chakra how do you know the demon will not be released? He should be exiled, or dealt with before he becomes a threat."
"I disagree," Hiashi Hyuga said sharply as he stood up. "My daughter was the victim of a plot by Cloud to kidnap her and that boy defended her. In fact he was gravely wounded in his fight and not only did he save my daughter but captured the enemy ninja. For his actions...he has earned the respect and if need be the protection of my clan."
"If any harm comes to the boy then my clan will take it as a personal insult." He said in a commanding tone letting his words sink in. That surprised a lot of people as the Hyuga clan wasn't known to offering thanks or protection to those outside of the clan, plus Naruto now had the protection of one of the largest and most powerful clans.
"Are you insane Hiashi?" Fugaku asked the man.
"Actually I believe he is of sound mind," this came from the representative of the Aburame clan another of the powerful clans. "Although the boy's true nature is unsettling and his power if frightening...he used that power to not harm but save a fellow member of this village. Although the boy's control is not known to us, from the facts we assume that the boy is not evil."
"Is his power dangerous yes...is he a threat? I do not believe so at least not at this time and what would you do to such a boy? Do we really want to shun the boy and possibly make a powerful enemy?" Every member of his clan knew what that was like to be shunned, not many outside of his clan could stand to be around them because of their insect partners.
"Well I don't know about that but there's another fact," this was from the Shikaku Nara as he was with his two friends. Although the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi clans weren't the most powerful of clans they were respected. "He is the son of Kakashi Hatake, one of our most famous ninjas and he's proven himself time and time again as a loyal ninja to this village. Hell the bastard saved my life a few times and I respect the guy. And I actually met the kid once, and he seems like a good kid to me."
"So the kid has my support, besides I've seen Kakashi mad and I don't think he'll take to someone trying to harm his son very well." He grinned seeing the worried looks passing through several people. Everyone had heard of Kakashi and his skills, the only Sharingan user outside of the Uchiha, who was said to have hundreds of techniques and a genius.
Shikaku's two friends nodded their own heads showing their support for the boy as well.
"He defended the pack, and to us that says a lot about him," this was from another clan the Inukuza clan. They were about the same standing in Konoha as the Aburame clan.
The Hokage smiled at the support that Naruto seemed to have and decided to take this chance to capitalize on the momentum. "Yes Naruto Hatake should not be feared, his father is currently starting training his son in preparation for the academy. I believe that given the chance Naruto will prove to be a valued ninja one day."
The debate went on but with the Hokage, one of the major clans, two of the other large clans and three of the smaller ones in support of Naruto, many had to give up on Naruto. Although the Hokage knew that the civilians wouldn't be able to keep the secret from each other he decided to give Naruto at least a chance with his generation. He made a degree that no one was to mention any of this to the younger generation making it a capital offence.
He knew that many would be scared of the boy, after all the wounds that the Kyuubi left ran deep but he wanted to make sure that Naruto had at least a chance with happiness. The boy had just started to make new friends as he learned and he didn't want the boy to lose that. Already there were parents of those that knew that had told their children to keep away from Naruto, and he knew that some that had just found out would do the same.
But at least now he had a decent chance for making more friends.
By the end of the whole affair the Hokage felt his years catching up to him, and he still had to deal with the damn Cloud ninjas. 'Maybe I should just retire? But I still don't have someone I can entrust this job to. Oh well hopefully I can keep this old body going for a few years yet.'
Next up Chapter 11: Recovery