Truth
Naruto was in pain, nothing but pain.
He couldn't understand what was wrong with him, but he knew that he was hurt all over.
He wished that he could escape from all the pain he was feeling. He could feel those hands roaming all over his body, the feeling of something pressing up against him. He didn't like those feelings, his muscles ached all over. He wished that it would stop...then it did. Naruto opened his eyes when he realized that they weren't being covered anymore. He looked around him to see where he was, he looked up at the darkened ceiling and the equally dark hallway. The only light that could be seen was down the long, dark hallway that he now stood in. He didn't know how he got there or how he could get out, there didn't seem to be any other doors or light sources other than the one at the end of the hall.
Without anywhere else to go, Naruto started walking down the hallway. He could feel the water swaying around his ankles. The water and his footsteps echoed out around him with every step that he took. He honestly couldn't tell if he was dreaming or not, it felt like he wasn't the one who was walking down the hall, that it was someone else who was using his body to walk and his eyes were the only thing that was his own. It was an odd feeling to have.
After a few seconds of walking, Naruto finally found himself getting close to the light, the blinding light that shined through the darkness was somewhat comforting. As he came closer, he made out a room that was bathed in warm orange light. He walked into the room and looked around, it was much larger than he thought it would be. it was still dark, but it was brighter than the hallway that he had just come out of. He looked up at the wall of bars that took up the opposite side of the room, behind the bars looked to be a cage of some sort.
Naruto felt a little nervous to be there, but he took a chance and called out, "hello?" He could feel someone watching him from the shadows behind the bars. He didn't think that anyone would reply to him since it was so quiet, but he still had hope.
Just then a loud rumbling voice called back out to him, "it's about time that you made it here. I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to reach me, even though I've been using more of my chakra to keep your sorry ass alive."
Naruto looked up to see a pair of crimson-colored eyes staring down at him. He wasn't startled by them, which surprised him, what was more surprising was that those eyes seemed familiar to him for some reason. "Who are you supposed to be?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Who am I?" The creator with the crimson eyes asked and laughed, "well, wouldn't you like to know. But since I am not fawned of wasting time, then I will tell you. I am the Kyuubi no Yoki, the so-called demon fox that killed hundreds ten years ago...And I am sealed inside of your pitiful body."
Naruto took a while to process this information. He was currently talking to the Kyuubi, apparently, the thing that killed so many people the day he was born, and the thing that everyone in the village thought he was. The Kyuubi was alive and well, and sealed within him. Naruto didn't know why he wasn't feeling the emotions that he thought he was supposed to be feeling right at this moment; anger, anguish, hate, sadness, every negative emotion that he thought he was supposed to feel, he did not feel.
It was a little strange to him, but at the same time, it made sense. Everyone he had met until now, save a few people, knew that the Kyuubi had to be sealed inside of him, so that made them hate him. Yet, Naruto's feeling on the matter was unexpected excitement. "So, you're the Kyuubi that everyone thought was dead, huh?" Naruto asked with a big smile on his face.
Kyuubi looked down at the boy closely, could he be mistaken? He thought that Naruto would get upset, that he would start screaming about how things weren't fair for him. But what was this? The boy looked to be happy to hear such news, Kyuubi hummed, "you don't seem to react in the way that I thought you would. Why is that?"
Naruto chuckled softly, "why to be mad about something that I can't change?" He looked up at Kyuubi, looking the fox in his eyes with a bright smile on his face. "I don't know or care to know what happened back then, but since you are sealed within me, I guess it's a good thing."
Kyuubi lowered his head so he could have an even closer look at Naruto, "hmm, you are a bit of a strange one. But I guess this is a better reaction than what I was expecting."
"Oh, no, trust me, this isn't what I expected to happen today either." Naruto stated, "but, so far, my life hasn't exactly been normal up until now, so I might as well go with the flow, right?"
Kyuubi smirked, "you know what, boy, I think I might not hate you as much as I first thought. Since you managed to surprise me, let's talk."
With Shikamaru
Shikamaru, Hinata, and Chouji found an abandoned building that they felt was far enough away from the crowded part of the village that was safe. It was a simple two-story home that was surrounded by tall trees, an overgrown lawn, and brimming with flowers of every color. The house looked mostly intact, even though the second floor looked to have a sizable tree growing from one of the windows. Hinata used her Byakugan to take a look around inside just in case someone was hiding out here already, thankfully, she saw no one inside. "Alright, everything looks clear on the inside," she said.
The trio advanced to the front door, Shikamaru reached out for the knob to open the door but it was locked. "Tch figures it wouldn't be that easy," he looked up at the house for a moment before taking out a kunai from his bag.
"Where'd you get a kunai from, Shikamaru?" Hinata asked curiously since non shinobi was not allowed to buy ninja weapons.
"It was a gift from my dad for my birthday," Shikamaru stated as he used the tip of the knife to jimmy the lock on the front door. After a couple of seconds, the lock clicked and the door slowly swung open. "One of my older cousins taught me how to break into a lock just in case I ever got kidnapped on a mission one day." He put away the kunai and walked into the house to look around, he didn't see a clean spot for Naruto to lay at the front of the house. "I'm going to check out the house for somewhere we can put Naruto to rest."
"Okay," Hinata nodded as Shikamaru went off to explore the house a bit. Meanwhile, she turned to Chouji who had been carrying Naruto this whole time, "how are you holding up, Chouji?"
Chouji was sweating a bit but he smiled at her, "Naruto's pretty light, but we did run over here. I'll be fine once I rest a little," he said with a smile.
Shikamaru searched the bottom and top floors, checking the flooring to see if the upstairs floorboards had rotted since the last time it was in use. So far everything seemed sturdy to hold their wait, there were no holes in the flooring upstairs, and the rooms still had all of their furniture. The only thing that Shikamaru could find fault with the house was how dusty it was, not to mention how much of the vegetation outside had infiltrated some of the cracks in the walls of the house.
This might explain the tree that had overgrown its pot in one of the rooms and was taking up half the space. Even so, there was nothing else wrong with the house the whole area didn't seem to be as badly off as Shikamaru first heard it had been after it was abandoned. He had never come close to the west side of the village because there was no need to, plus all the stories he had heard about the place while he was much younger made him think that there would be way fewer buildings standing than there are now. With that said, Shikamaru stopped standing around thinking about what he saw and prepared one of the beds in the house for Naruto to lay down on.
Once Shikamaru was done upstairs, he called down to his friends on the first floor to bring their patients to the room he was in. Shikamaru made sure to shake off as much dust as he could, but other than that, the sheets were relatively clean. They laid Hinata's jacket down on the bed first though, and then covered Naruto with the blanket had used to hide him from view earlier before placing the covers over him. Hinata sighed, "okay, so we got him here, but what do we do now?"
"Yeah, uh" Chouji turned to his best friend, he was still lost on what his friend was thinking. Sure he understood the concern about the hospital and the culprit behind Naruto burning to death in the trash fire, but it wasn't like the three of them knew anything about medical stuff. They were still academy students, they didn't have the slightest idea about medical ninjutsu or how to treat burns for long-term care. they did do their best to dress Naruto's wounds, but that didn't mean anything if the blond got infected by not being in a cleaner environment.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru was looking at Naruto intensely. He didn't get to have a really good look because he was thinking about places to lay low and what they might need to take care of their friend now that they had found him. However, even though they had gotten him to a relatively safe place that no one would think to find him, Shikamaru noticed something a little strange about the sleeping boy they laid on the bed. "Shikamaru?" Hinata asked wondering why the Nara had not answered Chouji yet, "what's wrong?" She looked over to Naruto to see what was wrong, but the boy was still very much unconscious at the moment.
Shikamaru stepped closer to the bed and pulled back the sheets a little to have a good look at Naruto's body. Even though Shikamaru's hoodie wasn't all that big, it still looked like Naruto was swimming in it a bit. "He's really thin," he whispered to himself as he looked down at Naruto's hands and legs.
"Uh, yeah, we always knew that Naruto was kinda small for his age," Chouji frowned. While he did believe that, now that Shikamaru had pulled back the covers, Chouji could see how much thinner Naruto had gotten since the last time they saw him. He looked almost like a burnt skeleton. Chouji had wondered why Naruto felt so light on his back, it kind of reminded him of the weight of a light camping bag, and even then he felt that the bag might have been heavier than Naruto was right now. "Is he going to be okay?"
Hinata took a step forward, she activated her Byakugan to look at Naruto. "His chakra looks to be kinda weak, but..." she furrowed her brow as she leaned over Naruto's stomach.
Shikamaru noticed the look on Hinata's face, "what's the matter, Hinata?"
Hinata placed a hand over Naruto's abdomen and the blond's body jerked away from her touch a little. The movement startled her a bit, as did the other two, but Naruto remained still after the slight movement. Hinata stood up straight again and deactivated her eyes, "I don't know what that was, but," she turned to face Chouji and Shikamaru, "I did see a large pool of chakra in his stomach."
"Really? I wonder why," Chouji said with a thoughtful look, "maybe his body is trying to heal itself and it started with the most damaged part first."
"That could be, but we really can't say that for sure," Hinata sighed.
Shikamaru looked back down at Naruto for a moment before recovering him with the blanket and sheets they had placed on him. "Well, since we're not doctors or anything, maybe we can get some medical advice from a doctor."
"That is a good idea," Hinata started, "but wouldn't they become suspicious if we suddenly start asking questions like that out of the blue?"
Shikamaru nodded, "yeah, they would, but I didn't mean we should ask a real doctor." He turned to them with a small smile, "there should be some medical books in the library that we can check out on this type of stuff. It might not be that big of a heal since we don't know medical terminology or whatever, but it's better than raising suspicion at the hospital. Questions like, 'who do you keep a person with four-degree burns from becoming infected from germs' or whatever might raise some eyebrows."
Chouji nodded, "yeah, that is true," he sighed. "Ugh, man, carrying Naruto all the way here made me hungry," he frowned as his stomach growled.
Hinata smiled, "Then how about we go out and get some food?" She suggested, "while we're out, I can go to the library and look for those books, and you can go find us some food."
"Oh, yeah, that's a great idea..." Chouji started happily, but then frowned, "but I spend most of my money this morning on the supplies for Naruto."
"Hmm, then I'll buy," Hinata said, "I did bring some money from my piggy bank that I was saving up."
Shikamaru nodded, "then do that, I'll stay here and keep an eye on Naruto for you while you guys are gone." Chouji and Hinata both nodded and left the room to go back downstairs, meanwhile, Shikamaru took a seat at the foot of the bed as he looked over Naruto. He still had many questions he wanted to ask, most of them revolved around how Naruto managed to get himself into this situation. Who would he have pissed off so bad that they tried to kill him? The fact that Naruto was still breathing was a miracle, but not everyone's luck is guaranteed to stay.
Later that same day
It was starting to get dark outside, even so, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Hinata continued to stay in the abandoned house they found earlier for Naruto's sake. Naruto had not woken up since they brought him to the house, and the trio was starting to get a little worried. Even though Naruto's breathing did even out throughout their stay, the injured boy had yet to wake up. They were worried about Naruto's wellbeing, but they were even more concerned about who had done this to him.
Hinata checked Naruto's body with her Byakugan earlier while she was waiting for Shikamaru and Chouji to come back with the rest of the supplies. Almost all of Naruto's ribs had been broken or fractured in several places. There were fractures all over Naruto's arms and legs, it would be medical if Naruto was going to be able to maneuver his arms and legs normally after healing. Hinata was concerned that Naruto's bones would not heal properly, so she picked up a couple of books on human skeletons and anatomy. She found a couple of books on diseases and how to prevent them. And the biggest book she was able to find was about taking care of the human body.
After she came back to the house with Chouji, she started to read through the books nonstop until the light from the window got too dim to read with. "Huh, it's already gotten so late out," she muttered to herself as she looked up at the sky through the window.
"Yeah, it sure has," Shikamaru said looking up from one of the books that Hinata brought back with her. He was reading the anatomy book, he was able to make it through half of the book by the time he noticed the dimming sky like Hinata. He turned his eyes over to where Naruto lay on the bed, "I guess we shouldn't expect for him to be waking up anytime soon."
"Uh, guys, I think there is something that we forgot," Chouji said putting down the book he had been reading. He was curious about one of the books that Hinata had picked up, it was titled 'Healing Apitite'. Hinata said that it was a random book that Hinata said caught her eye when she was checking out the rest of the books she had collected, so she picked it up at the last second on her way to check out. So far Chouji found it to be interesting because it was about the different types of foods that could help heal someone from illness and injury, or so the book claimed.
Shikamaru and Hinata looked at each other for a moment before both of their eyes widened. Shikamaru rubbed his eyes with his hand, "we forgot to go to class and got wrapped up in the reading and hanging out here instead." He frowned, "I don't think my mom or dad is going to be too willing to look past this if Iruka sensei hasn't called them yet."
Chouji nodded, "my mom is still doubtful about where I've been because of the night of the festival when they found us."
"Oh, you guys did get caught walking around the Redlight District that night, didn't you?" Hinata asked, the two boys nodded their heads solemnly. She sighed, "yeah, I've noticed that everything concerning Naruto seems to get those who try to take his side in trouble. Even when you're not doing anything wrong." Hinata noticed this fact when she was around seven and she tried to become friends with Naruto and told her father about it.
She ended up getting scolded right after she told him and was sent to her room for the rest of the day when she asked why she couldn't be friends with him. Ever since then, she was friendly with Naruto, but she never tried to be friends with him in the open, unlike Shikamaru. The main reason for that happened to be the fact that her father had some branch members watch over her before and after school.
Just then Hinata jumped up, she quickly turned to the window and looked outside onto the streets below. "What's the matter, Hinata?" Chouji asked noticing the urgency in the girl's movements.
"Well, I can't believe that I forgot about this all this time, but..." Hinata started as her eyes scanned the streets looking for the branch member that was supposed to be following her. She couldn't see anyone in plain view, not even with her Byakugan activated. The streets were empty out front, "my father usually has someone following me from the shadows before and after school to make sure that I'm not hanging out with Naruto or trying to get too close to him."
"What?" Chouji asked dropping his book, "but isn't that going a bit overboard? Is he afraid that Naruto's gonna kidnap you or something?"
Shikamaru moved closer to the window to also have a look outside, "that might sound crazy to us, but there must be something about Naruto that has all the adults freaking out. I know that the main reason that I had gotten grounded for a month straight was that my parents didn't want to like it when I told them what I was doing in the Redlight District. My father lectured me about hanging out with Naruto too much and told me that I shouldn't be wasting my time around him."
Hinata looked at him with sad eyes, "Is that really true?" She asked since she didn't understand how Naruto, a kid who only used to pull pranks on people until over a year ago, was much harm to them.
Chouji nodded, "Shika's right, my dad something along the same lines too when he grounded me."
Hinata's frown deepened, "but surely that couldn't be true, I mean, what has Naruto ever done to them to make him hate him so much?"
"That is a good question, Hinata," all three academy students jumped when they heard a new voice speak. The three of them turned around to the source of the voice and were surprised to see who it was.
To be continued...