The Jagged Crown
The Chthonic Professor
Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto. I also don't own the Elder Scrolls series, that right belongs to Bethesda.
AN:So, this has been sitting on my laptop, unfinished, since I posted the first chapter for this story. I've finally finished it, but even now I'm not too thrilled with the chapter's ending. Either way, I have to go now. It's my parents' anniversary, and we're going to watch Wonder Woman because my dad (like me) is a super-nerd and my mother is actually interested in a Marvel movie for once.
-.-
Chapter Two - I See Fire (Ed Sheeran)
-.-
It was total pandemonium.
Everywhere he looked Naruto saw fire and smoke spiralling high into the sky. Moving in a crouching sprint, he and his teammates had been making their way through the village for the last couple of minutes. Picking and choosing his way as carefully as he could through the rubble, Naruto tried to simultaneously keep an eye on his surroundings and on his teammates.
The two of them were trailing a little ways behind him, but were nonetheless keeping pace.
Naruto smiled a little. They may have had a rough start, but he had to give Kakashi some credit. Team Seven as a whole was far stronger than they had been just a couple of months ago. Naruto was proud to call himself a member of this team.
They may have been injured, but Sasuke and Sakura weren't going to let that stop them.
Looking over his shoulder, making sure Sakura didn't slip sideways into a pile of burning rubble, Naruto hadn't noticed the duo of Oto shinobi sneaking up on him.
Sakura stumbled a little, and Naruto flinched, his body involuntarily moving towards her protectively, but Sasuke's hand shot out and he stabilized his teammate. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Naruto watched as his teammates' eyes locked for a moment. Then they both turned and looked at him.
Seeing their attention on him, Naruto was about to give them both a double thumbs-up when their eyes widened in alarm.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted out, fear clouding her tone.
"Dobe, duck!" Sasuke called out, not as loudly as Sakura but just as panicked.
Without hesitating, Naruto threw himself to the ground. His hands dug into hot coals, but he ignored the pain. Before his chest had even touched the ground he felt a passing wind ruffle his blond hair violently.
Sakura and Sasuke watched from their perch atop a pile of rubble as an Oto shinobi's katana glinted in the flickering light of the fire, singing through the air above their teammate's head. Had Naruto hesitated for even a moment his skull would have been split in two.
Before the enemy shinobi could recover from his young opponent's dodge, Naruto had twisted around on his hands and hooked his foot around the back of the taller shinobi's knee. The attacker went down with a shout of surprise, tumbling backwards and flinging their katana high into the air.
The second shinobi, who had been waiting just slightly behind his partner, rushed forwards with a kunai at the ready. The man let out a loud battle cry and leapt into the air, kunai poised high above his head.
Quick as a flash, Naruto's hand lashed out and caught the spinning katana by the handle. Crouching low and lunging forwards, Naruto shifted beneath the leaping Oto shinobi's guard and thrust upwards. The man's eyes widened in alarm as his momentum carried him forwards. He was impaled upon the blade, sliding down the sharp weapon with a gruesome squelch. Naruto twisted out of the way just in time to prevent the man's kunai from slamming into the top of his skull, and he dropped the now-useless katana.
Then, a second battle cry tore through the air behind Naruto, and he spun around to find his first opponent hurtling towards him with a kunai of his own at the ready. Naruto shifted, attempting to dodge the rapidly approaching shinobi, but he wasn't going to be able to move on time.
Just when it seemed like it was all over, the man was halted in his tracks. Crouching low before Naruto, outstretched arm bursting with the Chidori's chirping lightning and Sharingan eyes spinning wildly, was Sasuke.
The man's momentum carried him all the way down Sasuke's arm, right up to the Uchiha's shoulder. Digging in his heels, Sasuke took the full force of the man's forward charge. The Oto shinobi's legs were flung up into the air, his arms and neck snapping forwards, as Sasuke refused to even budge an inch.
The man's kunai, still clutched tightly in his hands, missed the tip of Naruto's nose by mere millimetres.
Sasuke grunted and took a single step forward. Hand still crackling with lightning, Sasuke plunged the attack into the earth at his feet, creating a small crater. The Oto shinobi's chest exploded in a shower of gore at the force of the attack.
For a moment, all was still besides for the raging inferno around them.
Sasuke stood upright, staggering slightly at the effort it took, and shook his arm in an attempt to clear off some of the blood. Naruto took a shuddering breath and coughed as he inhaled smoke. Sakura unfroze from her position atop a pile of rubble and sighed. She slid down the small hill as safely as she could and walked up to the boys.
She eyed the both of them with a hard gaze. Sasuke swayed a little, caught himself, and scoffed. He rolled his eyes. Naruto giggled (though he would forever claim it to be a chuckle, and not a giggle) and tapped their arms.
"C'mon, we gotta move." He spoke softly. His words could barely be heard over the crackling flames.
Not another word was uttered as Naruto once more began to pick his way, as quickly as possible, through the burning rubble that was once their home. No words needed to be spoken. The bodies of the two Oto shinobi were left as they lay amongst the destroyed streets of Konoha.
They wouldn't talk about what had just happened, because they didn't need to talk about it. So much had changed in such a short period of time.
Maybe it was the direness of the situation. Maybe it was the loss of one of his precious people. Sakura and Sasuke weren't exactly sure what is was, but something in Naruto had changed. He was different.
Quietly, they couldn't help but think that maybe this change was for the better.
-.-
The hospital was a mess.
The front doors had been blown open. As Naruto walked slowly through the gaping portal, his first impression was that they were already too late. There were corpses strewn all about the lobby floor. Konoha citizens and shinobi, staff members and patients, and Oto, Suna, and Iwa shinobi alike littered the room. The walls and floor were stained with blood, and a rancid smell had overtaken the sharp tang of antiseptic that Naruto normally associated with hospitals.
"Shit." Sasuke muttered quietly. That pretty much summed up this whole situation, actually, Naruto mused to himself.
Seeing so many dead bodies had put a damper on Naruto's spirit, but he wasn't going to be taken down so easily. Clenching his fists, Naruto hardened his heart with resolve once more.
He had faith in his friends. He could believe in their strength. They were still alive, he knew they were. All he had to do now was find them.
"Sakura. Sasuke." He spoke quietly. His teammates both started at the sound of his voice. From the looks of things, they were probably just as shocked by the brutality of the scene as he was.
"We…" He paused, swallowing the sudden lump in his throat. "We have to find the others. Quickly."
Sasuke grunted and stood up from where he was kneeling by a body, and Sakura gave a quiet but determined 'Hai' in response.
"Okay." Naruto took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Okay. I'm gonna make a couple of Shadow Clones to go gather as many supplies as possible. Sakura-chan," Naruto turned to the girl with a nervous look on his face, "I don't really wanna split us up like this, but you're the smartest one here. Can you go with the clones and tell them what they should and shouldn't grab?"
Sakura didn't even hesitate.
"I can take care of myself Naruto, don't worry about me. Just find the others as fast as you can, okay?" She gave him a small smile. Seeing her determination and confidence gave Naruto some hope that they could really all get out of this alive.
"Alright. Be careful Sakura-chan." Naruto slid his hands into a familiar seal, and suddenly the room was clouded with clones of the orange-clad shinobi.
As the group of blonds-plus-one took off, Naruto heard Sakura shout 'Good luck!' over her shoulder. Then the room was empty, and Naruto was left alone with Sasuke and a pile of corpses.
For a moment the two rivals stared at each other, not entirely sure how to deal with the situation they'd found themselves in. Naruto shrugged and moved to turn away. He stopped as Sasuke let out a quiet grunt.
Staring at his teammate from the corner of his eye, Naruto let the awkward silence stretch out for a couple of seconds. It was getting to the point that Naruto thought Sasuke may have just been clearing his throat rather than trying to get his attention when the Uchiha finally decided to speak.
"Dobe…" He spoke up, then stopped. He hesitated, licking his lips with a quick, darting movement. Naruto had never seen Sasuke act so nervously before. "Dobe," He tried again, "you… don't have to worry about me."
Naruto felt his eyebrows slowly beginning to rise towards his hairline. Sasuke, seeing the look on his teammate's face, continued. He looked away from Naruto, staring out into the burning inferno that was once Konoha through the busted front doors of the hospital.
"… Konoha is my home too." He shifted from one foot to the other and stuck his hands in his pockets. "You don't have to worry about me searching out Orochimaru for power. He destroyed my home."
Silence filled the hospital lobby. Then Naruto laughed.
"What are you, a moron?"
Sasuke was so shocked by the words that he visibly flinched back.
"What?"
Naruto turned slightly so he could stare at Sasuke with both of his crystal clear blue eyes.
"I know you're not going to run off to Orochimaru, Sasuke." Then he smiled, not one of his face-splitting smiles, but the kind that made his eyes tilt at the edges and shine in the light. "I'm worried that he's going to try and take you by force, and that we won't be strong enough to stop him."
Naruto ended the conversation by turning around and trudging up the stairs. "Come on," He called over his shoulder, "The faster we find our friends, the quicker we can get out of here."
Then he was gone from Sasuke's line of sight.
"Che." Sasuke scoffed and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, but as he followed Naruto up the hospital staircase, he couldn't keep the satisfied smirk off his face.
-.-
Naruto and Sasuke had spent almost ten minutes rushing about the hospital from one floor to the next before the sounds of combat reached their ears. They stopped, shared a look, and picked up the pace. Taking the stairs up to the next floor three at a time, Sasuke very nearly bowled Naruto over when his orange-clad teammate stopped abruptly. He just barely managed to catch himself on the edge of the top step. Sasuke wobbled slightly. He frowned. His chakra reserves were abysmally low. If he used any more chakra, he'd most likely pass out and come up with a case of chakra exhaustion.
Looking at the back of Naruto's head, it was times like these that Sasuke truly began to appreciate the insane levels of stamina Naruto possessed. Considering he'd faced off against a fully-released tailed beast after spamming a huge number of clones in his match against Neji, and then creating even more clones to head out into the village as scouts, Naruto looked to be in far better shape than himself. It was almost ridiculous how much chakra Naruto possessed.
Mentally shaking his head, Sasuke refocused his attention to the task at hand. Though he may not exactly consider any of the other rookies his friends, they were his classmates and they were Naruto's friends. That was all the reasoning he needed to be here, helping Naruto.
"Naruto, what's the hold-up?" He whispered quietly to grab Naruto's attention. Without turning to look at him, Naruto whispered back.
"I found Lee's team, they've barricaded themselves against the back wall of the hallway with a bunch of hospital equipment. There's a squad of Iwa ninja, four of them, trying to get past the barricade."
"Okay." Sasuke took a moment to process the information. "I'm assuming you have a plan?"
Naruto's grin told an entire story without the need for words.
"Alright, your aim better be as good as it always is, bastard. I'm gonna cause a distraction with my shadow clones. I'll create a bunch of them and make as much noise and smoke as possible. Hopefully, the Iwa ninja will be too shocked to react for a moment. While they're distracted, try to take them all out with some kunai, or shuriken, whatever you have on you. If any of them survive, I'll pile up on them with my shadow clones."
Sasuke didn't even nod. He just tapped Naruto's shoulder twice to indicate he'd both heard and understood the plan. Naruto's hands deftly slid into a very familiar hand seal, and Sasuke reached into his weapons pouch, palming a couple of shuriken in one hand and some kunai in the other.
In a cacophonous explosion of smoke and sound, twelve clones of Naruto erupted into existence, three for each offending ninja. Without skipping a beat, Sasuke leapt out from behind the wall and let his weapons fly. Two of the Iwa shinobi whirled around, eyes wide in surprise, at the sudden intrusion. They received a kunai and a shuriken between the eyes, respectively. One of the Iwa shinobi, instead of whirling around, dove to the side. He rolled along the ground until his feet connected with the wall and he sprung back up in a fighting stance.
The final Iwa shinobi was faster than his comrades. He whirled around, plucking one of Sasuke's shuriken from the air and returning it with prejudice. Sasuke leaned back, dodging the returning shuriken by a hair's breadth.
The first of the Iwa shinobi to survive leapt at a trio of Naruto clones with a snarl on his face. He lashed out with a punch, only for one of the clones to take the hit on purpose, simultaneously yanking on the man's arm and throwing him off balance. The second of the three clones leapt through his brethren's dismissal-smoke, executing a high snap-kick into the Iwa shinobi's jaw. Disoriented, the man didn't catch the final Naruto clone coming in low, wielding one of Sasuke's errant kunai. With a flash of steel, the man's throat was slit.
The final Iwa shinobi had ignored the clones, believing them to be nothing more than fodder, and had immediately gone for Sasuke. He lead his charge with a straight punch, which Sasuke leaned away from in a sloppy dodge. Tired as he was, Sasuke fell back and caught himself on his hands. Being the genius he was always lauded for being, Sasuke used his position to his advantage, kicking out his legs in a sweep meant to take the Iwa shinobi off his feet.
With a confident smirk on his face, Sasuke's opponent, clad in nothing more than Iwa's standard chunin uniform, leapt over Sasuke's attempt at a sweep. He was so confident in his win, he didn't account for the fact that Naruto's clones clearly had to come from somewhere.
Naruto tore around the corner, immediately leaping over Sasuke's head and into his airborne opponent's path. With a truly nasty grin on his face, Naruto unleashed a punishing kick to the man's testicles. The man released a high-pitched squeak of pain and tried to curl in on himself while still airborne. Naruto, taking advantage of the opportunity, grabbed a fistful of his opponent's hair. He touched down and immediately leapt back into the air, smashing both of his knees into his opponent's skull while using his hands to keep the man's head in place. The results were a sickening crack echoing through the room as Naruto's knees destroyed the man's nose, sending fragments of broken bone and cartilage up into the Iwa shinobi's brain.
His death was instantaneous.
As the dead man crumpled to the white tile floor of the hospital, the hallway went totally silent. Just as the silence was becoming stifling, a brown-haired, bun-toting Konoha shinobi poked her head over the edge of the makeshift barricade.
"Hey, aren't you that Naruto kid?" She asked, eyebrows raised questioningly. Naruto turned to face her, a small frown on his lips. He mumbled something that sounded like 'not a kid', but Tenten hadn't caught it. She'd been distracted by Sasuke walking up to stand beside Naruto.
"You're Tenten, right?" Sasuke asked, voice solemn. Tenten gave a nod as her response. "Your teammates are Neji and Lee." The way Sasuke phrased it, it wasn't a question.
"Yes. They're both back here with me, but Lee's barely in any condition to move. His legs…" She broke off, gaze downcast.
"Yeah, I know." Naruto's voice was solemn. "Gaara really did a number on him." His fingers slowly curl into a tight fist. He set his jaw, the muscle there twitching slightly with effort. "But… but that doesn't matter right now."
Tenten glanced up at him in shock. What was this boy insinuating? Lee would probably never be able to walk again, and this kid would just brush that under the rug? He didn't have the right!
"What matters right now is that Konoha…" Naruto swallowed thickly around the lump in his throat. "Konoha… has fallen."
Tenten gasped. Somewhere behind her, Neji stiffened in shock. Konoha, their home, had fallen? It was inconceivable, impossible. There was just no way. The Hidden Leaf was the greatest ninja village in the world, it was simply unfathomable to think it would ever fall.
"I know. I know." Naruto ground his teeth, eyes welling up with tears. "My dream is to become Hokage, to be the greatest ninja the village has ever seen, but now… now there is no village left to become Hokage for. Too many have lost their lives today, and too much has been burned to the ground. There's nothing left."
He took a shuddering breath. Planted his feet. Steadied himself.
"And, if we don't get out of here soon, there won't be much of us left either. I can't accept that. Even if I don't have a village to protect anymore, I can still protect my friends. I still have the Will of Fire, and nothing, nothing, is ever going to change that."
"Right now, Shikamaru and Shino are trying to find Ino, Choji and Kiba. Sakura's gone to get some medical supplies in case anyone is injured, and Sasuke and I came to find you three."
By now, even Neji had an awed look on his face. This was the kid he'd always thought would be a dead-last loser? Just who the heck was Uzumaki Naruto?
"We were hoping Hinata'd be here at the hospital as well. I'm not sure how bad her injuries were from your fight with her, Neji. Do you think she'd still be here?"
The shocked Hyuuga took a moment to respond, still far too out-of-sorts because of the unprecedented situation. "I… am not sure, Naruto-san." He finally responded. "But I can check. Byakugan!" He flared his chakra, the veins in his eyes bulging grotesquely as he activated his family's coveted bloodline. It only took him a couple of moments to scan the entirety of the hospital. There weren't very many active chakra signatures to look for.
"No. Hinata-sama isn't in the hospital at the moment."
"Shit." Naruto muttered softly. Everyone still heard him. "Alright. Okay. Neji, can you walk?" He asked, eyeing the Hyuuga kneeling behind his bun-haired teammate.
"I should have no problems walking, the injuries I've sustained aren't very severe." He responded succinctly.
"Good. Then you can carry Lee."
Without warning, Naruto slipped his fingers into a hand-sign he was intimately familiar with, and the hallway was shrouded in chakra-smoke.
"Tenten-san, I'm going to have my clones go around gathering all the weapons they find that are in pretty good condition. You've got some way of sticking them in scrolls, right?"
Tenten nodded mutely, barely visible in the slowly clearing cloud of smoke.
"Alright, let's go. We gotta meet back up with Sakura-chan in the lobby. I know she said she can take care of herself, but I'm a little nervous leaving her on her own in this shitty situation."
With that, Naruto turned on his heel and marched back down the hallway. A hallway which was now filled with shadow clones.
-.-
Rubble-filled staircases and cold corpses blurred past Naruto as he rushed towards the hospital's lobby. The others could barely keep up with him. Sasuke hung back to help Tenten carry Lee, simultaneously asking (though, it was more like an order than simple demand) Neji to keep an eye on his teammate with the famed Hyuuga Bloodlimit. Naruto ignored it all in favour of reaching his destination as quickly as possible.
As much as he said he had confidence in her skills, allowing Sakura to run off on her own has left him jittery and anxious. She's driven and entirely capable of defending herself when push comes to shove, but she's still Sakura-chan. She's still the girl he had a crush on for so many years, and she's still his teammate. He can't stop worrying about her, and he won't stop worrying until she's standing beside him where he can know for sure that she's unharmed.
Finally, he saw the last staircase before he reaches the ground floor. He took a flying leap, skipping the stairs entirely and landing in a controlled roll without breaking his momentum. Like a bull in a china shop, he burst through a pair of double doors into the main lobby.
Naruto came to a stop surrounded by flames. The fire engulfing the Hidden Leaf had spread, and the front doors of Konoha's Hospital were almost entirely consumed. He's sure that it'll only take a couple more minutes for the entire building to join the rest of the village. Naruto could feel his heart wrenching in his chest at the thought. Bile rose in his throat, but he forced himself to swallow it down. With the mental fortitude of someone used to wearing a joyous mask at all times, Naruto slammed his mental shields down on his emotions. He can mourn Konoha later. For now, he needed to meet up with Sakura.
Swallowing heavily and clenching his hands into fists, Naruto managed a single step in the general direction where Sakura first took off before he's interrupted. The hospital entrance is suddenly blasted inwards, flaming debris scattering about the lobby and settling at Naruto's feet. Naruto's already positioned himself in a fighting stance before he can consciously realize there's a potential threat in the area. His stomach clenched uneasily at the thought. It's terrifying how quickly war changes people…
As prepared as he is for a fight, Naruto still isn't ready for what comes through the door.
He's missing his entire left arm, his hair has been burned right off his head and his skin is melting right off his bones, but the single, stone-grey eye staring back at him is unmistakeable.
Naruto breathed out his beloved nickname, horror filling his heart like a physical thing.
"Ero-sennin…"
The burning husk of a man stumbled forwards, falling to his knees not a pace before Naruto. In his remaining hand, he was clutching tightly to a pair of scrolls. With a motion powered by willpower alone, the dying man thrusted the scrolls against Naruto's chest. He barely had a chance to grab them before Jiraiya, no longer strong enough to support his own weight, collapsed to the hospital floor.
Naruto, now clutching the scrolls tightly to his chest, fell to his knees beside his master.
"Jiraiya-sensei!"
The legendary man's body shuddered as he became wracked with pain. Spitting up a glob of blood, he grunted heavily.
"Na-ru-to…" He ground out between bloodied lips and through a savaged throat. With his remaining hand, and using his waning strength, he reached across his chest to his dripping stump of an arm. "You've grown… so much… in so little time." He coughed heavily, spitting up more blood. Then, in a brutally smooth motion, he rammed his hand into the bloody stump of his left arm, coating it in thick, viscous red blood.
Unnoticed by either sage or apprentice, Neji, Sasuke and Tenten arrived from one end of the lobby dragging a semi-conscious Lee, while Sakura and a couple of clones arrived from the other with an armful of medical supplies.
"Today… Konoha may fall… but the Will of Fire burns strong in your heart." Though uttered with no more strength than a whisper, Jiraiya's words seemed to reverberate inside their minds. There was a looming strength behind them, as if Jiraiya wasn't speaking with the voice of a dying man, but rather with the voice of a raging inferno, or a towering mountain, or a relentless storm. Tears dripped down Naruto's bloodstained cheeks, but his blue eyes were opened wide. "To protect.. the King… to protect the future… generations… that is the true… calling… of a Kage. Heed the call. Protect Konoha's future… Naruto! As long as you carry the Will of Fire in your heart, Konoha will live to see another day!"
With his blood-soaked fingers, Jiraiya reached up to the kneeling Naruto's forehead and nudged his hitai-ate aside. Beneath it, he shakily drew the symbol of the Hidden Leaf Village upon Naruto's brow.
"I'm proud of you…" He whispered, and his voice was suddenly one hundred times weaker than it had been a mere second ago. His arm fell, but with the last of his strength he kept it aloft. With shaky fingers, and through blurry vision, he took one of Naruto's hands in his own. Naruto watched, transfixed, as Jiraiya clumsily inscribed an address in his own blood on Naruto's palm.
"Go…" He coughed, and his single grey eye closed for the last time. His arm slumped bonelessly to his side, and his chin dropped to the once-white tiles beneath it. "Discover… your… destiny…"
With that, Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin breathed his last.
-.-
Naruto didn't realize he was crying until Sakura was kneeling before him, wiping the tears from his cheeks.
"Naruto." Tears were clouding her jade green eyes and her lower lip was trembling slightly. "Naruto, we have to keep moving. We can mourn the dead later."
He took in a shuddering breath and let it out slowly. He found strength in Sakura's familiar green eyes, but he did not smile. He couldn't. Not after everything he'd just experienced.
Before he could stand up, Naruto felt a hand drop down on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Glancing behind him, he found Sasuke's coal black eyes staring back at him.
"Get up, Naruto."
Naruto was surprised by the force behind Sasuke's words. There was something fierce burning in his eyes, a fire Naruto had never seen from his rival before. It was bright and full of ferocious hope, even through the darkness that clouded their surroundings.
"You've been given a duty. You must uphold it, even during your darkest hour." The smile on Sasuke's face was small, but it was the most genuine thing Naruto had ever seen. "That is, after all, what it means to be a Kage."
Naruto blinked up at his rival-cum-best friend uncomprehendingly. The expression on his face must have been obvious, because Sasuke responded without any verbal prompting.
"Don't you realize the weight of what just happened? Those words uttered by Jiraiya of the Sannin, of all people, weren't just for show, Naruto. They're ceremonial, told when a new Hokage is anointed. It's a passing of the torch from one leader to the next."
By now, everyone else in the (still burning) room understood the meaning behind Sasuke's words. Tenten's jaw had hit the floor, Neji's eyes were wide open, Sakura looked like she was about to faint, and even Lee looked more aware of the situation than he had all day. Only Naruto still had to catch on to the gravity of the situation.
"Don't you get it, Naruto? 'As long as you carry the Will of Fire in your heart, Konoha will live to see another day.' Naruto, Jiraiya wasn't just praising your strong spirit. He was naming you the Godaime Hokage. As long as Konoha has a leader, a protector, she can live on. Even if the buildings are gone, Konoha will still exist as long as she has a leader, and her people. Us, Naruto. We are what remains of Konoha, and you are our leader. So, do what you do best and lead."
For a moment, Naruto could do nothing more than sit there and gape up at Sasuke. It was unprecedented for the cold, emotionless bastard to get so fired up about anything.
Yet, this was an unprecedented situation. Drastic times called for drastic measures.
Once more, Naruto felt his resolve settle like a weighted stone in his stomach. It was solid and heavy, unmoving and resolute, but it was a burden Naruto would happily carry until the day he died. The burden of protecting his friends. The burden of keeping them alive and happy; of guiding them towards a brighter future.
With blue eyes shining in the shadows of dancing flames, Naruto rose like a phoenix from the ashes. Beside him, flanking him, were his best friends, his team. He took a deep breath and steadied himself, drawing strength from their presence. He opened his mouth, prepared to outline the plan to get them all out of the village quickly and safely.
Then he gasped. With a jolt, Naruto's body suddenly lurched to the side and he stumbled. It was only Sakura's quick reflexes that prevented him from tumbling over a pile of rubble. She and Tenten both cried out in alarm at the sudden movement, but Naruto didn't hear them.
All he could hear was a pained, frightened scream.
Sasuke was the first to catch on that something wasn't right.
"Naruto. What is it, what's wrong?" He grasped his friend by the shoulder to steady him.
The five Genin watched as a single, brilliant blue eye stared up at them through shadowed blond bangs. Naruto looked furious. He stood tall, pulling his shoulder from Sasuke's grasp, but kept his head low, his single eye still gleaming from beneath his bangs.
He didn't know how he'd come across the information, all Naruto knew was that he needed to move, now. One of his friends needed his help, and nothing in the world was going to stop him.
"Hinata's in trouble."