Mask Off, Spot On

Chapter 5.5_Kakashi's POV

We brought [Y/N] back to the Hospital, and she was still unconscious even after a couple of days.
Sakura came back with many, but superficial wounds, which were quickly healed by the medical ninja in the hospital, and the same went for Naruto, except for the fact that he had to stay there for a night.

On the day Naruto was released, Lady Tsunade, along with Sakura and Naruto, came to the room to which Sasuke and I were resting, a worried expression covering the Hokage and her apprentice's faces.

"Kakashi-sensei, I told Lady Tsunade everything that happened during the Akatsuki's ambush... and..." Sakura started, as she was stopped by Lady Tsunade, who noticed her uneasiness.

"Although  [Y/N] was the one out of you all who suffered the least amount of damage, she is the only one who is still under a critical condition."

"Critical...?" I answered back, confused.

"Yes. This time, due to the circumstances, we had a chance to run tests on her that we never did before. It was foolish of me not to do this as soon as she showed up near the village, but even the tests that were repeated from that time have chaged drastically." Tsunade states, her eyes closed thoughtfully.
"In the last tests she was put through, the results showed what any ordinary low-ranked ninja's would, and her personality showed a lot of potential, so I put her in your team. But this time, everything, from her physical condition to her chakra source's has changed. The last time, we noticed that she had a fair amount of chakra developing within her, but this time..."

Tsunade stopped mid-sentence, her tone causing anxiety and bringing down a weight on our shoulders. Though, Sakura seemed to already know of what the Hokage was about to say.

"It's almost as if she's ran out of chakra."

At her words, I feel puzzled. In the first place, that was the reason to why she fell unconscious. That could happen to any shinobi, so I couldn't quite understand what she meant. Lady Tsunade looked up to look straight into my eyes, and I immediately felt my posture straightening up instinctively.

"Meaning, it's lile she had a limited resource of chakra to begin with. To heal her, we poured chakra into her, but her body wasn't accepting it." My eyes widened at the words of the Hokage. Such a thing was not bound to be even possible to happen.
"She became something like a chakra filter. All that goes in, goes out."

"But all living beings need chakra to survive, why isn't her body accepting it?" Sasuke asks, the question everyone wanted an answer to.

"We don't know, and what you said is exactly right. That's why... it's almost like she doesn't even exist in this world to begin with."

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And now, here she was: standing in this room like nothing had happened, smiling at us all as usual.
She probably didn't even know of what was going on with her own body, and she probably didn't even notice.

Acting like she was all better and healthy, like we'd been far worse than she had.

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Sakura took her away for some time to run some tests, and when she was over, she returned to the room Sasuk and I were staying at, a stern expression cobering her face.

"How is she...?" I ask, recieving a sight from Sakura in response.

"She simply said that she felt light and rested, like she hadn't felt in years. I didn't really get it, since I've witnessed before, the way she always sleeps like a log, but..."

Sakura seemed to understand things as well as we did. Which meant, she as well, knew as much as nearly nothing.

"Do you think she'll at some point--" Sasuke began, before Sakura cut him off.

"I don't want to think about it!"

"..."

"I know I should, but... sometimes, she spoke about life as if it was both a wonderful thing, and a horrible thing all at once, and I don't want her to lose her own. Not only that... she's a precious member of our team..."

Tears began to spill down Sakura's cheeks.

"...I have a feeling that her health isn't everything we have to worry about, though." Naruto suddenly said, as he entered the room. Sakura looked up to him pleadingly.

"Why?"

"Because, don't you remember, Kakashi-sensei? That Akatsuki guy, Tobi... he sounded lile he'd taken interest in something new." Naruto stated, making the world fall silent.

"...I was just about to mention that... so, Sakura, it'd be best if she could stay with someone for a while, at least until her condition gets better." I state.

"Yeah, but... who?"

"..."

The room fell silent for a while, before Sasuke spoke up:
"Isn't Kakashi-sensei the best option out of all? He's a jonin, and someone who knows of [Y/N]'s condition already."

"..."

The room fell silent again...

"No no no! No way! Kakashi sensei's a closet pervert, right?! It's a bad idea!" Naruto states.

"Do you think that you could do a better job than him? Poor [Y/N]! Having to eat ramen everyday because of you, not to mention the mess you always make around your place!" Sakura glares.

I sweat drop at the sight. Those two can begin their bickering in a second, at the smallest reason to.
Watching them, I thought of [Y/N], and how she always stared at these three bickering with a soft expression on her face. For the first time, I felt like I truly understood why.

Sakura sighted at Naruto one last time, before she turned over to me once again, wearing a worried expression:

"Kakashi-sensei, please, try to figure out what's wrong with [Y/N], for all of us." She requested, making me sweatdrop again,  wearing an incredulous expression.

"E-er... so, we're really doing this...?"