Never Again: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 24: Sickness

Naruto sat in a chair with his eyes closed with Obito, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Inoichi in a room alone with him. "Speak up!" Tsunade cried out. "You try and kill yourself and you refuse to speak?" 

". . ." Naruto remained silent. There was nothing to say. He knew what he had done. He didn't care. It was his right if he wanted to die. They knew nothing. They knew hints and pieces but nothing else. They knew nothing of his demons. 

And he didn't mean Kurama. . . 

Tsunade sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as he looked over to Inoichi. "Go ahead," Obito placed a hand on Inoichi's shoulder. 

"Take me with you, if the Kyuubi tries anything I'll be able to use my Sharingan to get it to back off." Inoichi nodded his thanks. 

"Don't you dare," Naruto whispered in an angry but also fearful tone. "Don't go running in my head." 

"Why not?" Jiraiya asked, concerned. "Is it because of the Kyuubi?" Naruto shook his head. "Then tell us!" Another shake of the head. "Then you're leaving us no choice." Inoichi performed the hand sign. 

"Prepare yourself," He ordered Obito who nodded, a serious expression on his face as he met Naruto's dull blue eyes, his lifeless blue eyes, and in that moment, he couldn't help but think how he failed his sensei. 

"Let's go," Inoichi spoke as a pulse of chakra erupted from his body as a small blue chakra pierced Naruto's head and Obito and Inoichi collapsed to the floor. Tsunade and Jiraiya quickly situated them in a more comfortable position, their eyes closed and their bodies limp, having transferred their minds into Naruto's in order to see what exactly was going on. 

"It's the war," Jiraiya said as he looked at Naruto's now sleeping form. "I haven't known him for long and he hides it really well, but he truly has a horrible case of PTSD." Tsunade sat down at her desk.

"Glad you aren't ignorant to anything," She muttered in a broken tone. She cared for the little blond brat more than she'd like to admit, and now here he was threatening to kill himself? Trying? It hurt. "I just wish Sarutobi-sensei were here, he would know what to do." Jiraiya shook his head.

"Don't think things like that, it won't help the situation. You have to try to do everything in your power in order to help Naruto, wishing that someone else were here will only do more harm than good." Tsunade shook her head and let out a small snort. 

"Who knew a pervert like you could get so wise?" 

"We haven't run into the Kyuubi yet," Obito began as they walked through a sewer-like place that was Naruto's mindscape. "I'm actually surprised." Inoichi nodded slightly, though he felt his nervousness bubble up from his stomach. He had agreed because he was the head psychologist and it was also an order from his new Hokage. 

"Same," He ended up speaking, trying to fill the void of silence that was almost deafening. They couldn't even hear their own footsteps, just a silence. Just then, a loud boom was heard coming down from one of the pipes that made up Naruto's mind. 

Obito and Inoichi sent each other a mutual nod before running down, chasing after such a sound. Was it the Kyuubi? As they grew closer, they found that they were now walking on dirt instead of metal. Obito rose an eyebrow until they emerged and they saw a disfigured beast with ten tails coming out of his back, swinging in the air with arms outstretched. 

They saw two figures standing on the mighty beast and Obito felt the air leave his lungs. It was him. A different version of him. Half of his face was distorted and he had a Rinnegan in his left eye. The man standing next to this different version was someone that was in the textbooks and even had a statue built in his honor, Madara Uchiha.