"Hello." Someone else speaking

"Hello." Kyuubi speaking.

"Hello." Thoughts

"Hello." Kyuubi thoughts

Chapter 1

A young boy was walking very slowly though the forest leaving a trail of blood as it dripped from his fingertips and stained the green grass. He couldn't move his right hand at all for there was a burnt hole in his shoulder that had blood gushing out. Not knowing how long he had traveled he finally gave off a small smile when he saw the gates of Konoha. He could feel a small presence maybe a mile or so away from him but he was too exhausted to pay any attention. He soon reached the gates and looked at the angry but satisfied eyes of the guards on top of the gate. They soon opened the huge wooden doors letting the blond boy slowly walk in. He looked up and saw the one person that he thought would help him. His weary blue eyes looked into her emerald ones. The boy also saw that a very sizable amount of villagers were behind her looking at him as well.

"Sakura…" he whispered. He reached his hand out hoping that his friend would help him. She also stretched out her hand with tear eyes.

"Naruto…" she whispered. Naruto's eyes soon widened when he felt a searing pain in his hand as she slapped his hand away.

"How could you have broken our promise! Wasn't that your way of the ninja?!" She screamed so loud that Naruto couldn't react at all shocked that his friend was saying all of this to him.

"Sakura… Please… I tried… my best…" he choked out.

Blood continued to slowly come out of his wounds. She then pushed him making him take a few steps back and began to walk away from him passing a villager walking up to the blond shinobi. Naruto's sad eyes looked at the man who stood before him. The villager then bent down and whispered something into Naruto's ear. At that precise moment Shikamaru who was holding onto a skinny Choji walked past the gates and was relieved to see Naruto still alive although he knew that the young ninja failed to bring Sasuke back. His eyes suddenly widened when he saw what happened next.

"Now is the time where you will be punished for all of the pain you inflicted upon the village." He said.

Naruto suddenly felt a huge surge of pain on his right jaw as the man slammed his hand into the boys face but amazingly Naruto remained standing taking only a few steps back. Naruto's eyes were now half closed. He could feel his heart and soul breaking as more villagers began to run forward and attack him. He could feel his already hurt ribs begin to crack as the villagers began to hit him with hard objects such as bats. Naruto soon fell on a villager who supported his weight easily.

"Don't touch me you monster!" cried the villager punching Naruto in the stomach.

"Stop it!" shouted Shikamaru.

He wanted to run over to help his comrade but with his strength gone and having to carry Choji all he could was watch with horrified eyes. He wished that Temari was here but she had gone off to find Neji and was no where near the village. Naruto finally fell under the constant beating of the villagers. Naruto could see the back of Sakura as she continued to push thought eh crownd away from him. He stretched his arm towards her but it was soon stepped on and broke by a bat that struck his hand right at the wrist area making him whimper in pain. He no longer had the strength to scream as he continued to be beaten. The villagers were also now throwing rocks as hard as they could at him making him curl up in a ball to protect himself as well as he could. Shikmaru's eyes widen when he saw a blur run towards Naruto kicking away 2 attackers along with striking 4 men at the necks knocking them unconscious. Naruto looked up slowly to see someone blocking at least half of the heavy rocks that were flying at him with kunai's. He looked at the short person seeing blue hair.

"Hinata?" whispered Shikamaru with surprise knowing that the Hyuga was very shy. He continued to look at the small girl in amazement as she pulled out 2 kunai's and blocked any projectiles coming at her way with amazing speed.

"She seems so much stronger then before when I saw her at the exams." Thought Shikamaru.

"Stop all of this!" she screamed. She glanced behind her to see Naruto now badly cut up as he began to slowly get up. "Naruto-kun! Take cover!"

He slowly nodded as he began to crawl towards a crate. Hinata suddenly saw a man pick up a kunai and threw it as hard as he could at Naruto piercing the back of his leg. Naruto cried out in pain and collapsed onto the ground once again.

"How can a Hyuga defend that demon?!" shouted a villager.

Hinata didn't have time to answer as she continued to deflect the rocks. They were pretty much attacking in a half circle and Hinata could only stop the frontal assault making Naruto vulnerable from the sides. She soon saw the same man pick up another kunai and pulled his arm back ready to throw once again and let the weapon fly right towards Naruto's head whom was lying on the ground.

"No!" she screamed running towards the kunai but she knew she would never make it in time.

"Ninpo Kuchiyose no jutsu!(Summoning technique)" Suddenly there was a big puff of smoke and a clanking of metal heard. Hinata's eyes widened when she saw a frog a bit bigger then her wearing armor block the kunai. There was suddenly an explosion that made all the attacks stop.

"What the hell is going on here?!" shouted a white haired man.

"Jiraya-sama! We are so sorry!" cried the villagers.

Jiraya's eyes flashed with anger wanting to just punish all of them right there and now but he had more important things to take care of such as getting Naruto to the hospital. Suddenly he heard a very cold voice form behind him.

"Sabaku kyuu! (Sand coffin) Suddenly at least 30 waves of sand shot out and zipped right past the toad sannin wrapping itself around many villagers and lifting them off the ground screaming out for someone to help them. Shikamaru turned around to see Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Lee, right behind them was Neji and Kiba being carried on 2 beds of sand. "We should kill them for what they have done…"

"No!" shouted Jiraya. "We will take care of them according to our law Gaara the most important thing is to get Naruto to the hospital!"

Gaara reluctantly let his hand fall withdrawing the sand. He then took Shikamaru by the arm and went over to Naruto (who is unconscious now), Jiraya and Hinata. Hinata was nervous that Gaara was so close to her. She shrieked when a ball of sand formed around the group making her close her eyes in fright but when she opened them she saw that they were in Konoha's hospital.

"Naruto-kun! Oh my god what happened Jiraya-sama!" shouted Shizune. "Hurry get a stretcher!"

Several medical-nin's who didn't really care about Naruto's demon hurried towards the seriously injured boy and carried him off to the emergency room. They were followed by the other members of the group that went after Sasuke.

Tsunade quickly burst into an emergency room that had all sorts of monitor noises.

"Tsunade-sama! Thank goodness hurry! Were losing him! He lost too much blood!"

Tsunade quickly went over to the boy that she considered her little brother and poured an enormous amount of chakra into his body not only healing his wounds but also restoring some of his own chakra stabilizing his vitals. The hokage sighed in relief followed by her assistant. Tsunade then bent down with tears in her eyes as she kissed Naruto's forehead. She then ran out of the room to treat the other patients that were critically injured. After several hours Tsunade slowly walked out of Choji's room and made her way to Jiraya who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"How is everyone?" asked Jiraya.

"Everoyne is stabilizing…" muttered Tsunade taking a seat. "Choji and Neji is going to be unconscious for a while thankfully it isn't a coma. Kiba will be out of here in maybe a week and Shikamaru has already been released. As for Naruto…" She then began to sob. Jiraya's put a hand on her shoulder.

"That isn't your fault."

"I should have been there!" she cried in her hands.

"You're the Hokage you can't be several places at once… I knew you were in a meeting with the Kazekage negotiating for peace." Began Jiraya. "He is alive and that is what is important." Tsunade nodded but continued to have soft sobs. What Jiraya feared was the response that Naruto would have when he woke up and what his thoughts of the villagers would be…

"Shikamaru!!!" cried Ino. She jumped into his arms hugging him tightly.

"Oy! Ino that kinda hurts! I'm not fully healed yet!" he shouted… "Girls are so troublesome…" But his features soon softened when Ino continued to cry on his Chuunin vest. "Are you alright?"

"I was so worried about you and Choji!" she said without taking her face away from his vest. "I know I don't act like I care but you two are very important to me!"

Shikamaru looked down at her blond hair and began to rub her back slowly to comfort her. She slowly looked up at him and went up on her tip-toes to kiss him softly on the lips wrapping her arms around his neck. He was surprised at first but he soon closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist enjoying the moment as well.

"Don't you love Sasuke?" he asked once they had separated.

"That was just a childish crush." She said still hugging him. "While you and Choji were gone I realized how much I was alone without you. Even though sometimes your ignored me you still talked to me like a true friend and comforted me when I needed someone. That's when I soon realized that I loved you!" Shikamaru felt a strange feeling in his stomach and heart.

"Do I love her as well?" thought Shikamaru. His chain of thoughts were interrupted before they could begin when he felt her lips touch his once again. This time he didn't hesitate to return the kiss…

Hinata had just stepped out of the large room that held Choji, Neji and Kiba. She was happy to see that Kiba and Akamaru were doing just fine. Kiba was also happy that a friend had stopped by to see him. She had a rose in her hand as she continued to walk down the hallway and stopped in front of a door nervous to see the patient inside. She soon found the courage to open the door and step inside. She saw Naruto covered in several bandages and hooked up to several monitors. She filled up a vase full of water and put her single rose in it then set the vase on the small table next to the window. She looked sadly at the blond ninja in front of her.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help you sooner Naruto-kun…" she whispered. She took a chair and sat next to him in silence for a couple hours then had to leave to get home. She knew her father was away at the moment for family business but she still had to be home.

Tsunade soon entered the room as the sun was setting and stood over the sleeping form of Naruto. Her eyes began to well up with tears once again as she bent down and kissed his forehead once again. As she straightened up and began to leave she saw Naruto's closed eyes move a bit.

"Naruto?" she whisprered bending down slightly. "Are you-"

She was interrupted when a hand shot out and grabbed her collar bring her down further. Her eyes were widened in surprise when Naruto's dark face lifted off the soft pillow until it was only a couple inches from the Hokage's face. Naruto's eyes slowly opened showing the surprised Hokage his dark eyes making her very sad. She wanted to see his bright and cheerful eyes more then anything at that moment. What happened next made her eyes widen even more. His eyes suddenly turned red with a black slit in the middle…

"The fifth Hokage of Konoha I presume…" said Naruto in a dark voice.

"Kyuubi?!" whispered Tsunade. Naruto's face was now full of rage as he gripped her collar even tighter.

"Correct…"