Believer

Chapter 2

Third person pov

Naruto was standing on the barren battlefield, gazing at his dead sensei one second, and the next he was standing in a forest. He blinked blearily as he felt Kurama's chakra deplete rapidly. It caused his own body to weaken, the lack of the fox's chakra making his weakened body feel heavier, and his mind, all the fuzzier. He coughed, his throat sore and dry.

"In hindsight, perhaps it would have been best to wait for you to recover some of your chakra before I did... that."

'Goddammit, Kurama.'

Naruto stumbled forward. He didn't know where he was, or when, for that matter. It made the situation all the more dire. If he died out here in these woods, who would save everyone? Surely he couldn't let a little chakra exhaustion get to him. It wasn't all that big of a deal. Really, he was fine. Way better now that he wasn't inhaling more smoke than he was air. Way better now that he wasn't staring at his dead...

The rustling of bushes caught his attention. His hand twitched towards his kunai pouch, but his body didn't have the energy to go through with the motion. He blinked blearily at the girl before him. She was short, with brown hair that fell around her chin, and rectangular purple markings on her face. 

"Sensei, over here! It's a Konoha Shinobi!" The girl suddenly hollered, her eyes moving from his headband to his bloodshot eyes. "He's almost out of chakra!"

Rin couldn't believe the state of the boy. For one thing, he was covered in soot and ash. She couldn't smell any smoke, but he looked like he'd just run into a burning building. His hair was so dirty she couldn't even make out its color, and the redness of his eyes made their blue shade pop out. They reminded her of Minato-sensei.

Minato appeared beside his female student, Kakashi following. Obito was much less graceful with his landing, stumbling slightly. Naruto blinked at them again, eyes shifting from face to face, barely comprehending. He stopped on Kakashi's face, staring. Rin bit her lip, unsure of what to do. She was the medic on the team... did she move forward?

"Hello? What's your name?" Minato tried. Naruto couldn't pry his eyes away from the younger Kakashi, who stared back with a steely gaze. Naruto felt his body weaken, beginning to sway dangerously. "Hey, stay with us. Rin, go."

Rin rushed over to the teen as he fell backward, catching the best she could and softening his fall. "What happened to him, sensei?" Obito asked as Rin began to look over him and his injuries. God, there was so much blood. Rin was sure the only reason she couldn't smell it was the amount of ash that seemed to coat him from head to toe. Her hands hovered over him, glowing green. How was he still alive?

"I'm not sure, Obito." Minato admitted. Naruto continued to stare at Kakashi, who's eyes narrowed.

"Minato-sensei, we have to get him to a hospital." Rin's tone was urgent. "Now."

"Kakashi, Obito, help me with him." Minato circled the boy, pushing him up and into a sitting position. Kakashi did as he was told immediately, while Obito cringed a little at the blank look in the teen's eyes. He must have seen something real bad. Real, real, bad.

"Sensei." The kid croaked, eyes darting to Kakashi's face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Try not to talk." Minato hushed. "You'll be okay."

Kakashi averted his gaze as they lifted him. The teen's head lolled backwards. Clearly, he didn't have the strength to keep it up. Nobody was quite sure how he was still conscious. He was obviously in a lot of pain, and from what Rin could tell, his chakra was so depleted he should have been long since dead. 

"Let's go." Minato said. And go they did. They weren't far from Konoha, which they were all thankful for. This boy could have useful information. He'd escaped from what had probably been a pretty sticky situation by the looks of it. His sensei had probably died in the attack based on his delirious mumbling.

"Kit, you're going to be just fine." Kurama assured. "I won't let you die. Not after this."

Naruto blinked rapidly, eyes meeting a pair that matched his own. Minato felt momentarily stunned by how familiar the color was, but he brushed it off. He wasn't the only one in the world with blue eyes. "Dad?" Naruto crooned weakly, tears filling his eyes. His head fell back once more, his body going limp as he took a few deep breaths. Minato felt pity well up inside of him for the boy. "Sensei..."

"You're going to be okay!" Rin squeaked. "Try and stay awake!"

"Man, he's really out of it! Do you think he hit is head?" Obito asked loudly as they approached the Leaf Village. Kakashi clicked his tongue a little, glancing at the teen once more. The Hatake couldn't deny that he was immensely curious as to where he'd come from, and what he'd been through. It was plain to see he'd just recently got out of a battle.

"I think it's just a side effect of the chakra exhaustion, but there's no way to know until we get him to the hospital and cleaned up." Rin bit her lip. "Does nobody recognize him? He may need a chakra transfusion when we get there..."

"I don't recognize him." Kakashi grunted as they darted past the gates. Minato flashed his pass at the gate guards, who stood up as they passed. Minato didn't doubt they'd have a few ANBU trailing after them for not checking in properly, but a leaf ninja was dying, and Minato couldn't let that happen.

"Me either." Minato frowned. "He is pretty beat up, Rin. I'm sure we'll have more information once he's cleaned up."

"You're going to be okay, Naruto. It's going to be fine. Don't close your eyes." Kurama felt a little panicked as Naruto's chakra faded more and more. "Don't let death take you, kit. You have to save them!"

"I have to... save..." Naruto blinked. His hands twitched, and he let out a throaty groan as he tried to shift.

"Don't move." Obito rushed out, eyes wide. He'd never seen a fellow leaf ninja in such bad shape before today....

They burst through the Hospital doors, and let the nurses take the mumbling blonde, unable to do much but stare after him and hope for the best as he was rushed into intensive care.