Other side

Chapter 2

The team of ANBU met them about a mile and a half from the village's perimeter. Kakashi recognised the three man squad immediately; after all they were his old ANBU squad. The captain in the wolf mask took charge; the strong female voice demanding a debriefing from the two shell shocked teens. Neither Naruto nor Sakura complained and quietly and concisely explained what had happened during the mission. The other two ANBU lizard and panther just moved beside them silently taking in the information. Kakashi also listened intently learning that after he had fallen Naruto had tapped into the Kyubbi to break free from his trappings and had blasted the son of a bitch straight to hell with a Kyubbi enhanced Rasen-shuriken. Suffice to say there hadn't been much left of any of the missing-nin after that.

They reached the hospital in record time and inside was chaos. Kakashi was suddenly somewhat grateful for his less than corporeal state. The hallways were overflowing with nurses and doctors, apparently they had all been clamouring to find out just what it was that had taken him down. Bunch of nosy bastards he snorted, the medical staff were even bigger gossip whores than the shinobi! And with people like Anko and Genma in that mix that was saying a lot. Either way if one more nurse walked through him he was going to raikiri someone, it was getting old fast even if it meant he wasn't actually bumping into them.

The hospital suddenly stood still when the Hokage graced the halls with her presence, flanked by the ANBU team that had met up with Naruto and Sakura. She looked furious and worried at the same time, not a great combination as the hospital staff were about to find out.

"All non-essential staff get you asses out of her this instant OR I WILL THROW THEM OUT! THIS IS NOT SOME GOSSIP HOUSE! You two..." She motioned at Naruto and Sakura "Bring the brat in here and let's try and figure out what is going on."

Kakashi's two students nodded dumbly and followed the busty woman's orders, moving his unconscious body into the private room that had been prepared in advance. The jounin watched with detached amusement at the whole scenario, he guessed it was the onset of shock there really wasn't anything funny about this situation. He'd never seen any of these people look so tense and that alone was causing the panic he'd squashed deep down to rear its ugly head.

Tsunade went about her business as briskly and business like as usual. She prodded and poked, pinched and squeezed and generally left no metaphorical stone unturned, all the while being watched by Naruto, Sakura and Shizune. After over an hour of examination she huffed and folded her arms.

"I can't find anything wrong physically. His chakra is a little out of whack but that's about it. I'm baffled there is no reason why he shouldn't be awake right now reading that damnable book of his. It's just like he's not there, but his brain functions are normal not like that of someone in a coma..."

The jounin stood and watched as Tsunade frustratedly paced up and down the room, muttering harshly under her breath. He wanted to scream' I'm here look at me'. But he already knew from experience that it was a pointless endeavour, his team hadn't been able to sense him so what made him think Tsunade would.

"I need you to tell me everything about the jutsu that hit him and the person casting it. There must be something on file somewhere about them." The blonde sannin announced, folding her arms.

Naruto looked drained and nervous, as though he didn't want to relive his part again. He'd already had to tell this tale three or four times and each time the guilt and sorrow was all the more pronounced. The blonde jinchuuriki bluntly retold his tale noting the forlorn look appearing on his Hokage's face and as he mentioned the symbol adorning the man's clothing the hazel eyes went wide.

"Tsunade-sama...?" Sakura asked her mentor, looking worried.

The older woman just shook her head muttering "It can't be them, they were just a legend. A fairy tale used to scare the little ones."