Incident Part 2

Shortly after another person that walked past them stopped and came closer.

"Hey, you. Aren't you supposed to be home by now? It is getting late.", asked the person. His white hair was very eye-catching. And the head protector that the person wore was hiding his left eye.

"Who are you?", asked Chouji

"I am not allowed to talk to people I don't know. Dad´s gonna be pissed.", added Shikamaru and looked at the person as well.

"I see, well then. Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi, right?" The person knew their names.

"How doy you know our names?", asked Chouji

"You look a lot like your parents. Now, should I tell them that you are still lingering around so late? They are probably waiting for your return."

"Tell them? We are just getting some snacks. We were about to return, right Shikamaru?"

"That is right. We were just in a conversation that is why we are not finished here yet.", replied Shikamaru.

"And what does take so long?"

"Kaito was searching for Naruto. Apparently he is not back yet even after we told Iruka-sensei and he went after him."

"Iruka went after Naruto? Is that true?"

"Yeah, there is no doubt about it", nodded Shikamaru.

"Alright, I see. You two better go home now."

"Yes..." Chouji was a little bit sad he couldn't get more snacks. But he still obeyed and went home with Shikamaru.

----

In the forest hill, Kaito was running around searching for his brother. He already reached the supposed battle side. A lot of kunai and shuriken together with destroyed explosive tags were lying around on the ground.

´Damn it, Naruto. Where are you?´

Just at that moment, he could hear him screaming.

´There!´ Kaito immediately ran after the voice.

Naruto was escaping 5 enemy shinobi and deflecting some shuriken that was thrown at him. But he couldn't handle them all and one of them hit his right shoulder and left thigh.

"Damn it!" He fell to the ground. He did try to get up again but only could roll over and look at his assailants. Naruto placed the Kunai he found in front of himself to protect against any incoming attacks.

"Brat, if you just had given us that Kunai on your own accord you may have lived. Now the punishment for stupidity is death."

Naruto only glared at them and grit his teeth.

When one of the women went forward she kicked his face and sent him unconscious. When she also wanted to slice Naruto with her Ninjato to secure the kill a few shuriken hit her neck. The expression on her face was that of shock. The blood flowed down her body and she fell down not moving any longer.

"What!? There is an enemy!" The others became alerted and prepared to fight. Each of them jumped to another tree.

One of the shinobi of what seemed the Takigakure headband noticed that the one that attacked was another kid with red hair.

"Another brat!? God-damn! I had enough! Just kill this one as well. He may be more skilled but don't be afraid." The leader of the ground shouted angrily and jumped down to get rid of Kaito.

Kaito his hands were still trembling from him throwing the shuriken. His breathing was unsteady and his eyes were looking at the blood that tricked out of the woman´s neck on the ground. His vision became even somewhat blurry and he got nausea.

´Damn it. This feels so wrong...´ The feeling of taking someone's life felt so bad and the blood just reminded him of the nightmares he had from time to time.

But his body still reacted on impulse to protect his brother. No matter what he may be reminded of, he was still determined to protect him. No one would touch his family.

And he couldn't allow himself to get weak at this point. The enemy was already approaching. So he gritted his teeth and collected his last remaining resolve.

But in actuality, it didn't matter much. That one kill was only luck. The enemy was so fast that Kaito couldn't really do much. The gap in skill was too great. A small child against seasoned shinobi was just a joke.

He could only block some half-hearted attacks before he got assaulted by the sheer number of projectiles. Kaito made sure no vital points were hit but the pain he felt was still intense after the others did hit his body.

It was a pain that he thought never existed. Deep and lingering pain. A pain that scorched the insides of his body as intense as it could. And at some point, his body couldn't handle the blood loss from the wounds and he fell to the ground.

A child's body was just not made for war. No matter how young one started with training.

And a wound on the side of his stomach was dying the ground red now. His gaze was still fixed on his brother that was also still lying there unconscious. A hand was reaching to him.

"Look...He is trying to get to his friend...", said one of the women. The leader of the enemies watched and sighed. "...Just get it over with and free him from his pain..."

Now Kaito could see himself right in front of the reaper.

´Is that it? Am I just going to die like this? Damn...it...Real combat is so different...I am sorry...Naruto...please...survive...´

His vision started to fade and he himself lost conscious even before the death blow struck him. What a pathetic way to go.

-

But after darkness, his eyes opened once again. What he saw was a white ceiling. Looking around he could see that he was in the hospital.

His body was patched with bandages around his torso but it was still aching and very weak. He barely could move withoit feeling pain.

What he did notice was someone lying near his legs. That someone was full of blonde hair.

It was Naruto that was sleeping soundly and waiting for him to wake up.

´Looks like I still had some luck left...But before I wake him...I should...rest as well...´

With that, his sleepy eyes closed themselves again.

----

"He woke up?"

"Yes, it was just for a short moment but he was awake."

"Very good. Thank you for informing me." Hiruzen sighed in relief.