Message from the Author: Ok so I doubt you guys want to read about a comatose Naruto so I'm just gonna go ahead and throw a time skip in. Don't worry, Kakashi's fate will be revealed.
Sakura quickly caught Naruto as he lost his footing and stumbled. She heard him curse his body for not responding correctly and gently put more weight onto Sakura's capable shoulders. Naruto had just been released from the hospital after a two week stay in what he called a "boring hell hole more torturous than Ibiki on his good days!" He was very adamant about his boredom after he woke up on his third day in the room. It only took two more days for Sakura's elation to turn into general annoyance. The rest was history. But despite the massive temptations, she never hit him once...yet. Forever gave her plenty of time to change that.
They were now stumbling their way back to the apartment with Naruto cursing his dysfunctional limbs. Naruto felt embarrassed that he, the reincarnation of the Rikudo Sennin, was being supported by his girlfriend back to his own house because he was stupid and dropped his guard for the few seconds that bastard needed to seriously hurt him. He mentally cursed himself for what seemed like the 100th time and shot out a hand to catch himself on a wall.
"Come on Naruto. We're almost home." Sakura's gentle encouragement helped him push off of the wall and stagger the rest of the way home. He threw open the door, limped his way to the bed, and collapsed in a heap.
"Sasuke I'm going to kill you for what you have done!" He clenched his hands tightly and thought about his sensei. Kakashi was in critical condition and needed a new lung. His former lung was to damaged by the Chidori and could no longer function correctly. Yet through it all Kakashi persevered. The one eyed Jounin refused to give up. Then there was Sakura. Whatever happened there had put her in a catatonic state until Naruto woke up. When his blue eyes fluttered open she surprised everyone by jumping up and hugging him to her chest. The poor nurses nearly had a heart attack when the motionless girl exploded into action. She had never explained what Sasuke showed her in the genjutsu but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
"Naruto."
The voice was faint but familiar. He didn't pay any attention to it as more rage was pumped into his system. Sasuke was quickly becoming a goal, a person Naruto wanted dead by his own hands.
"Naruto!"
The voice penetrated the cloud of hatred in his mind. The voice definitely belonged to a female. She sounded worried. Once again the red cloud closed over the gap to plunge him back into his poisonous thoughts of death and vengeance that could only be achieved through the spilling of the Uchiha's blood.
"Naruto please come back to me! Please I need you! NARUTO!"
The final cry pulled him from the depths of hatred and back into the light. The red left his eyes, both physically and proverbially, and he was greeted by the sight of a terrified Sakura. He noticed his nails were longer and his canines felt sharper and more elongated then usual. His hair was slightly longer and more unkempt and he would bet that if he looked into a mirror his eyes would be fading back to a calm blue from their previous blood red. All signs of the Kyuubi.
"Naruto?" He turned towards the timid voice and was met by the sight of Sakura's tear streaked face. He also didn't miss the cut on her arm. Claw inflicted cuts. The wave of nausea he felt from the knowledge made him almost vomit. He had hurt Sakura. He hurt the one person he has always loved. He hurt her even when he had always promised he never would. He stumbled backwards, eyes still locked on the gashes he had inflicted, never once did he see the look of relief in her eyes. He never heard her happily call out his name. His eyes were focused solely on the red gashes marring her otherwise perfect skin. Only when he didn't respond to her did Sakura follow his gaze to her arm.
"Naruto this is nothing. Hey look at me." Her voice forced him to drag his sorrow filled gaze up to her eyes. The tears in his almost broke Sakura's heart.
"I...I hurt you...I did that to you Sakura." The lack of the honorific at the end of her name hurt when it came from Naruto. It also told her how much pain he was feeling for what happened when he wasn't in control.
"Naruto you didn't hurt me. Whatever was just in control did. Not you Naruto." She gently stated. His eyes fell back onto her arm and she realized that as long as those gashes were still there, he wouldn't be able to think clearly. She lowered a healing hand onto the wounds and quickly sealed the cuts. The pain faded with the cuts until both were non-existent. When she removed her hand Naruto visibly relaxed.
"I'm so sorry Sakura!" His apology was silenced by her hand.
"Naruto if you apologize anymore I'm going to show you the other thing Tsunade-sama taught me. I get that your sorry but it wasn't your fault. Now what just happened?" Sakura's tone and posture did a complete 180 when she asked the question.
Naruto took a deep breath. He had always been trying to avoid this question, always dreading the inevitable day that someone would ask and he would be forced to answer. It seems that the day he feared had finally come. He exhaled slowly before he began.
"16 years ago the village was attacked by the Kyuubi. You know this. What you were never told was what actually happened." Sakura was about to voice her confusion but Naruto continued speaking and cut her off. "The Kyuubi was never killed. It was sealed away. However the only thing that could hold it and survive the chakra integration was a human child. I was born on the 10th of October."
Sasuke landed in the clearing and waited for his companion to show up. He began to think about his former teammates and although a smile crept onto his face, he felt that slight twinge of guilt in his chest. He quickly and ruthlessly crushed that feeling and mentally scolded himself for feeling such things to his useless ex-comrades. He was ordered to prove his loyalty by slaughtering at least two of his former teammates so he did. At least he thought so. He remembered that he twisted his sword slightly just before he plunged it into Naruto's back. That slight turn opened up the possibility that he may have missed the heart. He also could have hit Kakashi's heart but he went with a lung instead. Why?
His pondering was ended when the man he was waiting for appeared. The swirled mask made Sasuke slightly curious as to what lay beneath but he disregarded the feeling.
"It's done." Sasuke stated this with the coldest voice he could muster, not even noticing how his voice cracked ever so slightly when he spoke the words.
"Very good Sasuke. Now it's time we meet up with Orochimaru. It's about time your training began." The man turned around, the cloak with the red clouds shifted with the movement, and leapt away with Sasuke close behind.
"So...you're the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi?"
The question was barely a whisper. No doubt she was trying to take it all in. Naruto seen this blank look on her face as she stared at him. His stomach was doing flips from the fear he was feeling. Any moment now she would side with the villagers and hate him. She would probably spit on him a few times to get "his taste out of her mouth" and then storm off leaving him alone for good. She might even request being switched to another team. His mind was racing and he could feel the cracks working their way through his heart so it would be easier for Sakura to shatter.
What happened was far from what he expected.
Naruto suddenly found a pair of arms wrapped around him and his shoulder was getting wet from the tears being shed. Sakura shook as she cried and Naruto's hands instantly found their way to her back, one rubbing her lower back while the other pulled her closer to him. Sakura cried for several minutes before the sobs died down into the occasional sniffle.
"Sakura-chan, why did you cry?" Naruto still rubbed her back gently but allowed his curiosity to be known.
"I cried because I remembered all of the times I was mean to you. All of the times I followed the adult's examples and all of the times you were kind to me regardless of my actions. I need to know why?" Sakura finally pulled away and stared into Naruto's eyes.
"Why was I so nice to you?" She nodded her head. "Well it's because I love you. I always have and I always will. We were kids and you didn't know why the adults did that but you knew it was for something that they thought was important so you followed their example. I never blamed you. I could never, ever blame the beautiful pink flower named Sakura." He smiled at the end and chuckled in his head at how cliche the end sounded. But it seemed to have the results he was looking for.
"Oh you baka! I love you Naruto." She pulled him back into her and they held each other close. "Arigato Naruto. You never gave up on me and all I can say is arigato. I will always love you." She whispered into his ear.
"No Sakura-chan. I should say arigato for giving me a chance. I will always be thankful that you did." Naruto closed his eyes and a few silent tears ran down his cheek. Revealing his secret brought them closer together instead of driving them apart like he feared. The mood was quickly ruined when the familiar scribbling sound began to sound from the window. Naruto felt anger and embarrassment build up and turned to see Jiraiya in the window, furiously writing in his "research" note pad.
"Don't mind me gaki. Just keep doing what you were doing and I'll have my next best seller!" Jiraiya grinned and kept his pencil ready, ignoring the stifling amount of killer intent that flooded the room all directed towards him.
"Ero-Sennin are you here for something?" Naruto felt his fingers twitching in rage at being interrupted.
"Oh yeah Tsunade just sent me to make sure you got home fine. Now if you don't mind-"
"Shinra Tensei!"
After Jiraiya's rude interruption was abruptly dealt with Naruto feel asleep with Sakura in his arms. Said pinkette awoke around 6 in the afternoon feeling more energized after the 4 hour nap. She went about the house and began to tidy up the mess made by Sasuke's attack. The broken chairs and table were easy to take care of. After disposing of the fragmented wood she cleaned up the rest until only one thing was left: the blood. There were two distinct pools of blood on the floor. The one where the table used to be was her boyfriend's while the other was her sensei's. She stared at both for a long time until something clicked. She realized several things about the attack that she had missed in her state before. First, Sasuke twisted the blade before he stabbed Naruto which caused it to barely miss his heart. That was the only reason he lived. Second, Sasuke could have easily killed Kakashi but instead he hit him in the lung. Finally there is the fact that she is still alive. He had her by the throat. A quick twist of the hand and her neck would have snapped like a twig. Instead he placed her under a genjutsu and tossed her aside. She finished cleaning the blood when she reached a conclusion. With impeccable timing, Naruto walked into the kitchen just as she finished putting everything away.
"Hey Naruto I want you to promise me something." She began to get nervous at what his reaction might be.
"What is that Sakura-chan?" He turned a somewhat sleep clouded eye in her direction.
'Here goes nothing.'
"I want you to promise that you will bring Sasuke home." The silence that followed threw Sakura off. She was expecting him to be really loud. Not deathly silent.
"Then you noticed it too? How he could have killed us all but didn't. You realize just like me that the old Sasuke is still there." She nodded her head slowly, still prepared for an outburst.
"I promise Sakura-chan! I promise it on my life!"