Naruto 1. Who is Kurosuchi?

Everyone who knew him knew there was something very strange about him. He didn't look all that different or act all that different, but there was just something about him. He was a slightly slender boy, but not all that skinny, and he had dark black hair that went just to his eyes. His eyes always seemed to droop a bit, making him look sickly, but besides that, there was nothing strange about his appearance. Kurosuchi was always a quiet child and preferred to not play with other children, and when he wasn't doing chores and the like he always just locked himself in his room and rarely came out. When he got older he decided to become a medical ninja. There was, at the time, a shortage of medics, and Kurosuchi seemed very exited about becoming one and helping his village. What wasn't known was what Kurosuchi was thinking when he singed up for ninja academy.

Throughout his education, Kurosuchi continued his quiet behavior. His grades were very average when it came to taijutsu and ninjutsu, but excelled in genjutsu and chakara control. He passed with high marks, and then went on to continue training with the medical staff. By his second year as a medical ninja, Kurosuchi was well known as a very talented surgeon, but there was one thing that he excelled in even greater than that, and that was autopsies. He was good at keeping people alive, but he was great when it came to working with the dead. Kurosuchi was able to tell how a person died, usually just by looking at their clothes, and he was also able to dispose of the body very quickly and cleanly.

It wasn't until Tsunade came into position of Hokage that it seemed to people that something was amiss with Kurosuchi. After looking over his file, Tsunade noticed that some records were missing. After an investigation, it was discovered that Kurosuchi had burnt the missing records in order to get into medical school. From the investigation, Tsunade learned that as a child his parents had broken into the storm cellar while he was away and found many small animals, dissected and frozen. Kurosuchi had been going out into the woods, killing the animals he could catch, dissecting and studying them, then freezing them to 'learn about them.' He had been sent to a psychologist, but stopped going to his sessions after the first month. When put into the ninja academy, his forms came from an orphanage. It was said he was found in the woods half-dead with broken ribs and a cut across the top of his forehead. His parents were never found.

From the report taken by the ANBU, explaining what evidence had been collected: his parents blood all over him, the fact that he was found with the murder weapon, and that there were no other leads, it was clear to Tsunade that Kurosuchi had killed his own parents, but because his parents' bodies were never found, it could not be determined whether he actually had or hadn't. She couldn't even put him into custody to question him. She could, however, question him about the missing files. After the questioning, Tsunade was astonished when Kurosuchi's mind only turned up blank. When asked about his past he would recall being alone all the time and 'studying' the animals, but he claimed he couldn't even remember his first session with the psychiatrist. After being interrogated, results were the same, and all that was left was to enter into his mind with the ANBU and retrieve the memories by force. The mind team and Kurosuchi were in the room for a full hour when they finally gave up. It seemed there was a large space that was just blacked out, like he wasn't even awake. Because of the lack of evidence, yet keeping in mind that he had purposefully withdrawn information from the Hokage to become a medic, Tsunade allowed Kurosuchi to stay on as a medic as long as he was under strict surveillance. Kurosuchi agreed to the terms.

After Sakura became Tsunade's new apprentice, there seemed to be no use for Kurosuchi in the healing department, so he turned his focus more and more toward autopsies and crime-scene clean-up jobs. A few years had passed and Kurosuchi was now mostly working for one particular VIP client. This client was known to make strange requests of Konoha, and even though he paid very well, Tsunade still felt that he wasn't to be completely trusted. Tsunade wanted a personal assistant to both work for and watch this client, and because over the last few years he had been able to gain some moderate trust with the Hokage, Kurosuchi was elected. Most of his duties were now devoted to cleaning-up after his 'master' and making sure only people with appointments were able to get on the premises. This was an easy job, and during the night Kurosuchi was able to study many medical books and do research for new medical jutsus. That he was also acting as a guard for the client, he was not able to leave the mansion except for weekends, but even then he was told to follow and watch the client anyway, so Kurosuchi was unable to get any real research done and he was getting really upset that he was getting so far behind in his studies.

Finally something came up, and Kurosuchi was almost able to leave this crappy assignment. While cleaning up after the clients snack at his desk, Kurosuchi found some ransom letters addressed to other people. It seemed that this client was into some pretty dirty stuff like kidnapping. After some more snooping, more and more evidence was found until Kurosuchi was able to get the OK from Tsunade to make an arrest. She of course didn't want anybody to know that Konoha had working for a kidnapper, so she asked if the client could be taken into custody very quietly. The next day, Kurosuchi and his five man team came back to Konoha with the kidnapper in tow, and when the mansion was visited next, it looked as though no one had lived there for years.


	2. Sakura

With that time consuming mission out of the way, it was time to get back to some good old research. Making sure nobody followed him; Kurosuchi went to his home and went strait down to the basement. It looked very empty for a basement, all that was there was the door to a large locked freezer, a sink, and a big desk with a computer. After pushing in a stone near the back wall, a lab table with many drawers protruded from one wall and the freezer door on the opposite wall was unlocked. Kurosuchi turned on the lights and went into the freezer to get a few dead fish. He put these fish into a bucket of room temperature water and then went to his library upstairs to get his practicing scrolls. These were used scrolls that he usually used when just practicing reviving dead fish, but he had bigger plans for these fish. When he went back to the basement and opened the scroll on the lab table, he took out one of the fish to see if was thawed yet. If there was one thing that Kurosuchi didn't have, it was patience. When seeing that the fish had barley started to thaw, he decided to make something to eat before he did his studying. He went upstairs to his kitchen and began to thoroughly wash his hands when he heard a knock at his door. 'Damn it!' he thought, 'Why can't I just get something done without any interferences!?' He quickly walked to the front door of his inherited house still drying his hands and threw the towel to the side as he opened the door. "What!" he yelled. He quickly regretted yelling without seeing who it was at his door and found himself face to face with a very pissed of Tsunade. "I…I'm sorry Tsunade-sama. I wasn't expecting visitors today and you caught me at a bad time. How can I help you?" Tsunade held out a form for Kurosuchi to see.

"Where were you at 8:00 AM this morning? I'll tell you where you weren't, and that was at your therapy session!"

'Damn,' Kurosuchi thought, 'I didn't know she'd blow like this.' Kurosuchi tried thinking of an excuse. "Look, Tsunade-sama, I just…" He was about to say he forgot about the meeting, which was untrue, he just wanted more time for research, but Tsunade cut him off.

"You were supposed to be in therapy! Twice a week! Monday and Friday! Did you think you could just not show up!? Well you were wrong!" A moment of silence followed. Tsunade sighed continued, more in control. "Your Therapist called in sick today and you would have been sent home by his secretary. However, since I cannot trust you to go to a simple therapy session, I am going to have Sakura look after you for the rest of the day." It was only then that Kurosuchi noticed Sakura standing tall right behind Tsunade.

But then it hit him, "What! Your going to have you apprentice baby-sit me!?"

"You mean until you start going to your sessions regularly? Yes. I will have you watched every night after you leave the hospital by someone of my choosing. Tonight only Sakura was free, so she will have to do. I gave her a few books to study for while she is here, and she will give me a full report in the morning. She will be spending the night here as well, so you will treat her with the utmost respect. That is all." With that, and before Kurosuchi could argue again, Tsunade was gone in a gust of leaves. Kurosuchi was speechless, and it wasn't until Sakura spoke that he came out of his little trance.

"So were you thinking of going anywhere tonight or are we staying here?" Kurosuchi looked at Sakura with much dislike, and then moved aside to let her in.

"We'll be staying here. Let me go find you a room, and then I can start dinner. Are you hungry?"

"Yes, please." was Sakura's reply. She thought he was taking this rather well when he left to check for an extra room, but then heard him scream a muffled curse (probably yelling into a pillow) and some thumps from upstairs (punching the mattress). She waited patiently for Kurosuchi to return, and when he finally did she decided to ask him a few questions she was meaning to ask him ever since she met him a few days ago.

"So what is it you study Kurosuchi-chan?"

She was trying to sound very kind and friendly, but all that was returned was a pretty blank stare and a simple, "Your room is ready. I'm going to start dinner, is shrimp ok?"

Sakura was confused for a second. 'Why is he so nice in offering food and board but still so mean when it comes to talking?' "Shrimp is just fine thank you. May I watch you cook?"

Kurosuchi turned towards the kitchen and said, "I'd rather you didn't. You can put your books down and start studying in the room on your right, and I'll call you when dinner is ready."

Sakura watched Kurosuchi until he was in the kitchen and out of sight, then went to put her books down. 'Maybe I should be watching him…but I guess there's no harm as long as I know he's in there.' Sakura made sure she could hear Kurosuchi in the kitchen from where she was sitting before starting to read her enormous book. After a few chapters about bone marrow, Sakura heard Kurosuchi calling her into the kitchen. When she got there, there was a small table all set up for a fancy dinner with a candle and a cloth napkin and real silverware. 'Wow…I didn't realize he was such a fancy-do' thought Sakura. When she sat down, she was served a plate of what looked like a million dollar meal. With shrimp and rice and veggies all accounted for and cooked to perfection, Sakura knew that it was going to be delicious! Then, Sakura noticed that Kurosuchi had said something. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Kurosuchi cleared his throat and said again, "Do you want any sake?"

Sakura had to think for a second. 'Did he just offer me alcohol?' "No thank you, I'm under-age." Kurosuchi just shrugged his shoulder and said, "Never stopped me." He then lit the candle on that table and threw the match into a small glass of water.

Seeing Sakura's curious look, he explained, "It's to keep the smoke from filling the air and spoiling your sense of smell."

'Oh,' thought Sakura, 'I guess that makes sense.' She was about to start eating when she noticed that he was eating his food standing up near the sink. "Weren't you going to sit down?"

Kurosuchi looked at her, swallowed the food in his mouth, and then said, "I always eat next to the sink. It's a habit I picked up. Just finish your dinner so I can clean up." Sakura was about to do just that, but with a bite of rice and shrimp going towards her mouth, she stopped. She looked at the food questionably.

Kurosuchi would have chuckled if he weren't in such a bad mood, but said, "You're right to suspect me. I am the exact kind of person that would poison you and get back to work, but that wouldn't look to good on that report you have due tomorrow would it?"

Sakura thought about this for a moment. "Yeah, I guess that's true. It wouldn't look good at all." She took a bite of the food and was surprised that it tasted even better than she thought it would. She was about to compliment the chef, but it turned out he was already washing his dishes, and looking like he really wanted her to finish quickly so he could be done with it. She had to work really hard to not savor each bite, but instead she wolfed it down quick enough to give her dishes to Kurosuchi to clean. She was about to go back and start reading again, but remembered that she had to keep a watch on Kurosuchi.

She was watching him clean the cookware for a while, but then found herself needing to answer the call of nature. "Excuse me, could you tell me where your bathroom is please?" she asked, trying to sound very lady-like.

Without looking back at her, Kurosuchi said, "Upstairs and to your right. Turn off the lights when you're done."

When Sakura got back from the bathroom, she was shocked to find the kitchen spotless. It looked like no one had ever dined there before. She was just noticing how her chair was even cleaned off when she heard Kurosuchi in the library where she had left her books. She walked in and saw that he was looking at her reading material.

As soon as she was in the room, Kurosuchi put down the book he was looking at and said, "Very interesting homework Sakura. I see that you are working at setting and repairing a broken bone faster." Sakura was about to tell him not to touch her things when he said, "I'm going to go and work off some stress. If you want me, I'll be out back."

With that he left, and Sakura quickly picked up her books and followed. 'I know he's just trying to make me want to stay behind and not follow him, well it's not going to work!'

Once outside, Sakura felt a little better. Being in the soft cooling breeze and seeing the setting sun brought her back to her senses, and she sat down to read while keeping an eye on Kurosuchi. She watched as he started punching the bag hanging from a tree branch. He started off small, but very soon he was yelling and hitting the bag with all his strength and speed. It looked like he might have snapped and Sakura didn't know what to do. It only took a few minutes for Kurosuchi to calm down after hitting the bag. It had reduced enough stress in him to work productively in his lab, but then he remembered that he had to have Sakura watching him the whole time in there. He hit the bag once more, then sat down under the tree and took out a pill that was in his pocket. Before Sakura could ask what it was, he had already swallowed it, so instead of asking that, she asked, "So where did you learn to cook and clean like that?"

It looked for a second like he wasn't going to answer again, but then he said, "I had a lot of missions as a butler, and you pick up things."

It was a very simple answer, and Sakura knew that he didn't want to talk to her, but she was determined to know more about him. "And what are you researching in your lab?"

He looked at her for a while, again looking like he wasn't going to answer, and then said, "I guess you'll find out."

He went back to resting under the tree, and Sakura went back to thinking of more questions to ask. "I know this is none of my business, but why would you skip out on your Psychiatrist session?"

Kurosuchi stood from where he was sitting and began walking inside. "I had a lot of work to do and didn't have time. Why don't you ask what you want? Why don't you ask why I'm in therapy?"

Sakura would have replied, but Kurosuchi was already in the house again. 'Damn it! If he keeps moving around like this, I'll never get my reading done.'

She followed him in and asked where he was going. "I'm going to shower," he said, "and then I'm going to get to work. You should get ready to take notes for your report." With that he was gone upstairs, heading for the shower, and Sakura sat down to read her book while she waited.

It took longer that she thought it would, but Kurosuchi finally came back down from the shower wearing just black long pants and a white wife-beater and sandals. "Are you ready to see my work?" he asked. Sakura nodded, and then followed him into the basement. She wasn't expecting the basement/lab to smell nice, but it smelled like bad fish when she went in. "Oh God-damn it! I knew I forgot something." Kurosuchi poured out the bucket of water and fish that had been sitting out for a few hours now, then took one of the fish and put it on the already open scroll.

When he opened the drawers on the lab table and started taking out beakers and test tubes full of different liquids and powders, Sakura said to him, "I don't think your experiments will work without fresh fish. I don't think even Tsunade-sama could revive those."

Kurosuchi didn't turn from his work, but said to her, "I'm not going to revive them. That is not the reason for my experiments. Why would Hokage-sama need more researching on healing arts when she pretty much knows everything already?"

'That's a good point' thought Sakura. She watched as Kurosuchi started to cut open the fish.

It didn't take long at all for Kurosuchi to have the fish dissected and pinned open, and when he started putting the powders and liquids from his beakers into the fish, Sakura just had to ask, "What is it that you're trying to accomplish?"

Kurosuchi finished placing a small bit of paper near the fish's heart when he turned to her and said, "When I'm done, you will see. Please stop asking me that question." He turned back to the fish and started to stitch it back up. When he finished, Sakura was going to ask what next, but he had already started dissecting the head of the fish. Now she was really curious. After what seemed like hours but what were actually just a few minutes, he was done and ready to start the next fish.

Sakura was dieing of curiosity, but knew better then to ask, but instead asked, "Are you going to do the same thing to the other two fish?" He nodded. "Then I'm going to sit back and read some more. Please tell me when you're ready to tell me what it is your doing." Kurosuchi grunted his answer then continued to work.

After working for another twenty minutes, Kurosuchi was finished. He wrapped the fish, now with stitched eyes, mouth, and body, in moist cloth and put them in a cooler. He washed his hands in the sink and told Sakura that they were going to a river in the Forest of Death. Sakura told him that he would have to get special permission from the guards or the Hokage in order to go there, but he said he already had a signed form allowing him in. They walked down to the forest and it was now the dead of night. It didn't take all that long to get there, but now Sakura was wishing she had brought a jacket.

When at the Forest of Death, Kurosuchi led Sakura to a large river, and then began to set out the fish he had prepared for testing. "These fish," he started, "are for just this test. If I can accomplish my goal tonight, then I will make more to show the Hokage." With that said, Kurosuchi began to place one of the fish into the water. He then made a few seals with his hands, and then placed his hands around the fish. Some green chakara started glowing around the fish, just like it would if you were trying to heal it.

After a few seconds, the fish started moving. 'No way! That's impossible for that fish to be alive! He's missing organs and is in such bad shape! How can it possibly be? . . .'

Kurosuchi disrupted Sakura's thoughts by saying, "Its not alive you know." Sakura was confused. She asked how the fish was moving then. "I'm only using its body, kind of like a puppet. The only difference is that I'm also using its organs to make it seem alive and to circulate the chemicals I've put inside of it. Now I'm going to try and make it swim." Kurosuchi tried moving the fish in many different ways before he was able to get it to move properly. It would probably be easier on a land animal, he said to Sakura, while keeping the fish moving. The fish was then eaten by a larger fish, and Sakura almost laughed.

"Well," she said, "I guess that's why you brought three fish am I right?"

Kurosuchi chuckled to himself softly and said, "Nope, I'll show you why." Kurosuchi released his chakara with a "Kai!" and then waited. After a second of silence, the water where Sakura guessed where the fish was exploded, along with the larger fish that had eaten it!

"Holy shit!" yelled Sakura as she landed on her ass. "Was that a bomb note!?" she asked Kurosuchi in a voice a little louder than usual.

"No, a bomb note would have dissolved in the water or inside of the fish. And, unlike a note, the explosion you saw would get bigger with the size of the specimen. This has been my project. I have created a 'living' bomb. If you can get a creature and remove all the blood and most of the digestive track, you can replace those with certain explosives. Then all you have to do is remove the eyes and the part of the brain that feels pain and allows the senses to work, and then you have no problem moving the body to where it needs to go. Without removing those parts of the brain, the fish would have tried to be alive again after I had 'revived' it, and it would have fought where I wanted it to go. I now have only one or two bugs left to work out, and then I may be able to test on larger mammal subjects."

Sakura was stunned. She didn't think the Hokage would allow such experiments to be done, but she was looking into his experiments twice a week, so she must know about it. "It's still a work in progress," Kurosuchi went on, "but I'm sure that once I get it done, the ninja of Konoha will have no problem using this if and when another war breaks out."

Sakura was again shocked with what Kurosuchi was saying. 'Does he actually think another war will break out? Does he actually want one to!?' Kurosuchi tested the other two fish, releasing them and detonating them while taking notes, and then got up and brushed himself off.

"I think we should be getting back," said Kurosuchi. "You'll want to get some sleep before writing up your report for Tsoumada-sama about today's activities, right?" Sakura gave a slight nod, and then they started walking back to the house.


	3. Naruto

It had been a month since Kurosuchi had shown his experiments to Sakura, and he had made some great breakthroughs since then. He'd come up with new theories, and now needed to get Tsunade's permission to start testing on larger, maybe even mammal subjects. He had been going to all of his therapy sessions and has had nothing but good reports from his supervisors, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

Once inside the office building, it took a while to get in to see the Hokage. Apparently there was a long line of people wanting to see her about hiring special ninja for their missions, and that was nothing Kurosuchi could do anything about. It took Kurosuchi almost forty-five minuets to finally get to the office, and when he entered he was greeted with an angry Tsunade. "Why the hell aren't you going to your therapy session?" asked Tsunade.

Kurosuchi tried calming her down before asking for her to look over his reports by saying, "I can still make it on time, Tsunade-sama. I would have been here a little sooner if your halls weren't so crowded as well. I just came to give you the reports on my research and to ask you . . ."

Tsunade cut him off saying, "I don't have time to look through your reports right now. Just bring them back next week. I'm going on a break now, and don't try to stop me Shizune!" Tsunade's personal assistant and apprentice was about to tell her to get back to work, but after such harsh words decided against it. Kurosuchi was about to protest and demand that Tsunade read his reports, when Naruto (the village idiot) dropped through the ceiling right on top of him. Tsunade stopped to watch as the two ninja on the floor tried pushing each other off of the other, and then gave a very short laugh. Tsunade lost her good humor when Naruto yelled that he wanted a mission and that the line was too long, so he'd broken in. It looked for a second like Tsunade might throw the closest piece of furniture at him, but then she stopped and looked at Kurosuchi.

"Fine," she said to Naruto. "Your next mission is to escort Kurosuchi over there to his therapy session and then take him home. You'll watch him throughout the night and make sure he doesn't do anything his doctor tells him not to. Now go away and good bye." As both Naruto and Kurosuchi's mouths hit the floor, Shizune wrote up a very quick yet official mission for Naruto to follow. After handing it to Naruto, she ran out of the room to follow Tsunade and make sure she didn't just run out on all of the work that still needed to be done.

Naruto and Kurosuchi walked out of the office together without saying a word. On the way to the psychiatrist's office, Naruto asked, "Why do you need to go to therapy? Did you get injured real bad like Fuzzy Brows?"

Even though he didn't know who Naruto meant, Kurosuchi told him, "No, I don't need physical therapy, I need mental therapy. Everyone here thinks I'm crazy." Naruto looked kind of puzzled.

"Well, are you?"

Kurosuchi stopped walking for a second and looked Naruto in the eye and said, "I don't know."

Naruto definitely didn't look so sure of himself at the moment. 'Maybe I shouldn't have taken this mission. As if I had a choice in the matter!' he thought to himself.

Once at the Psychologist's office, Naruto looked at the mission forms he received. It looked as though he was supposed to go in with Kurosuchi into the therapy session, but he wasn't sure if it was an error by Shizune because of the rush she was in. Naruto didn't have much time to think about it when the doctor came out and called Kurosuchi into the office. Unsure of exactly what to do, Naruto followed them in. Once inside the office, Kurosuchi sat in the large leather chair while the doctor sat behind the desk. The doctor then noticed that Naruto had followed them in. After asking what he was doing there, Kurosuchi told the doctor that Naruto was there as an official escort and that he was aloud to stay during the session. Looking kind of skeptical about it, but thinking it best to follow the official orders from the desk of Tsunade (as Naruto's mission scroll put it), the doctor aloud Naruto to stay but asked for him not to speak while in the office. The doctor then called for the medical staff with a small speaker box on his desk. While they waited for the medical staff, the doctor gave Kurosuchi some pills and water and started to put out scrolls onto his desk. Once he found the scroll he was looking for, the medical staff had arrived and they started to give Kurosuchi an injection and set up an IV drip by the chair. They then strapped his arms and legs to the chair. Seeing his confusion, the Doctor told Naruto, "We have to put Kurosuchi into a state in which he will be forced to tell the truth. There is a space in his memory that is completely blank, and we can't have him just making up stories to please us like he did when he was younger. In order to get the truth, we have to just keep going back to his past and try and force his brain to remember what happened." With that, the doctor excused all but one of the medics, and then sat down in a chair right next to Kurosuchi. The medic made a few seals with his hands and then placed his hands over Kurosuchi's eyes. The doctor then started speaking to Kurosuchi. "Can you hear me," he asked. Kurosuchi nodded. "I need you to tell me that you can hear me."

Kurosuchi had his eyes closed and said, "Yes." It sounded very weak as if he were really sick or hadn't spoken for a long time.

"Good," the doctor said, "then why don't we start with you telling me about your past once again. Start with the day your parents went into your room without your permission." Then Kurosuchi started his tale, once again:

I was playing outside with my friends. No, that's not right. I had no friends, I was playing by myself. I watched the frogs swimming in the pond and I wanted to catch one and study it like I had the others. I decided not to. I thought I would go outside later in the evening when mom and dad were asleep so that they wouldn't see. Once my parents were asleep, I went back to the pond to try and catch some frogs to study. When I got back home it had been about two hours, and I had caught many frogs and toads to study off of, but all was not well. My parent had not been asleep when I left and they had gone into the cellar which I left unlocked. They looked around to try and find out why I was such a loner, and what they found on cellar floor shocked them. What they found was my mini-freezer filled with small creatures I had dissected, studied, and frozen. When I entered the room, my parents started crying and asked me again and again why I would do such a thing. I didn't know how to answer them. I should have told them something, but I didn't know what. Instead I told them that it was none of their business and tried to push them out of my room so that I could study the frogs. My father, however, would not let me continue what I was doing and decided to throw away my tools and consult a doctor. He was a doctor himself and had to make sure that his reputation was not ruined because of my behavior. There were doctors in the hospital at all times and my father knew almost all them, so it was no trouble setting up a time the next day to see a psychiatrist. No amount of arguing helped my parents to see that what I was doing was not wrong, and I was forced to see the psychiatrist the next day.

I sat in the doctor's office for over an hour, refusing to answer any of his questions. He had the animals I had researched and was using them in his questions. Why I did it, when I started doing it, why didn't I tell anyone about it, the questions went on and on. Finally, the doctor gave up. He was looking through my files and then talked to my parents for another hour. I guessed they had allowed the doctor to use a jutsu to force the answers out of me, but I wasn't going to go out without a fight. I fought with any doctor trying to get me strapped into the chair. Even my own father was trying to get me, but I fought him too. When I was forced into the chair and strapped down, the doctor put his hand on my head and…and…nn…an….an…nnng….nnngh!!!

Kurosuchi was having what looked like a seizure. He was thrusting in the chair, like he was desperately trying to get out, and he was yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Damn it!" said the doctor, "It's happening again! Quickly nurse, give him a sedative and make sure he doesn't bite his tongue!" Naruto watched as the nurses started running around with needles and straps trying to keep Kurosuchi from hurting himself and was amazed at what had just happened. Without saying a word, Naruto waited a total of only three minutes until the nurses had secured Kurosuchi, and Kurosuchi was still talking about his past, but now he was talking about his time in an orphanage. The doctor sighed and looked at Naruto. He then started by explaining, "This is the part of the story that he can remember again. We haven't been able to force his brain to remember what had happened during the time before what he's saying now and after he starts having a fit. Now he'll finish telling the story up until he's accepted into the ninja academy then wake up after another hour. You'll probably have to stay here until he wakes up." Naruto really didn't want to stay in the doctor's office for very much longer and asked if the doctor knew where Kurosuchi lived.

The doctor told him that the address was probably on file, so Naruto said, "Well then if you don't mind, I can carry him back to his house so that you can use the office. What do you think?" The doctor hardly had to think at all before getting Naruto the address and directions to Kurosuchi's home. He knew that Naruto was on a mission to watch over Kurosuchi anyways, so he should be able to trust him.

A few hours later…

Kurosuchi awoke, and knew where he should be. He would open his eyes and see the usual abstract poster that his doctor had on his wall, then he would have to call the nurses to untie him from the chair. However, before he opened his eyes, Kurosuchi took a small breath and noticed that he was not in his doctor's office. The office always smelled funny to Kurosuchi, and the smell he now noticed was very familiar. 'Why am I home?' he wondered to himself. He slowly opened his eyes and figured that he was in his own bed and that he was alone in the room. He then slowly stood and figured out that he was still fully dressed, but that his weapon pouch and backpack were missing. He then listened to the floor for footsteps in the house but heard none. He did, however, hear the TV in the other room on and smelled something like soup coming from downstairs. Had he been kidnapped? Kurosuchi didn't know who brought him home, but he was sure he was still in the house. As he was quietly exiting his room, Kurosuchi then thought that there might have been more than one person that had brought him back…but why? Why would they bring him here, and why would they not tie him up or something? Maybe they were just bringing him home…but it's better to be safe than sorry. Kurosuchi crawled down the stairs trying to find the perpetrator, trying to stay out of sight. He went to the kitchen before going to the living room where the TV was so that he could arm himself. While in the kitchen, Kurosuchi learned that the person in his home had helped himself to at least three cups of ramen that he had been saving for when he was too busy to cook. Kurosuchi then picked up one of his chef knives and started to sneak into the living room where the TV was on.

Upon entering the living room, Kurosuchi was glad that the lights were off and that the couch was moved to face the TV, away from the door. He then noticed the guy was still on the couch watching a show with a stand up comic. Kurosuchi couldn't see the face of the person, but he knew that he was awake and watching the show. He also saw that the guy was eating yet another bowl of ramen. Not wanting to take any chances, Kurosuchi decided to take the offensive.

Kurosuchi jumped in front of the TV and started a genjutsu that would hopefully catch the perpetrator off guard. He was unable to see his enemy because of the lighting, but he was able to catch him in the genjutsu.

Naruto had been watching a comedian on the TV and eating some ramen when someone jumped in front of him. Naruto knew it was Kurosuchi but still was taken back when he was confronted in such a manner. He would have tried to explain why he was watching Kurosuchi's TV and eating his ramen, but by the time he was starting to think strait, he suddenly felt an instant chill. The TV went dim and the outline of Kurosuchi went transparent and then disappeared. In his confusion, Naruto almost didn't notice that he was sinking into the floor. Naruto started to panic and tried to get off the couch and run for the door, but he tripped and fell into the mud-like floor. Not able to see, and feeling himself sinking into the ground, Naruto started to scream and struggle into the mud. Suddenly, Naruto felt something fall onto his back, and then something cold and sharp against his throat. He then felt the shocking sensation of chakra being forced into his body, and then heard a familiar voice saying, "Don't move." The floor was no longer made of mud, and the TV was clear and bright again, but now there was someone on his back holding a knife to his throat.

It wasn't long before the two sorted out what had happened and Naruto was back on the couch and Kurosuchi was sitting next to him watching the comedian. He wasn't very interested in the comedy, but he didn't know what else to do. Without the consent of the Hokage, he wasn't able to proceed in his research any further than he had already. After watching the rest of the comedian's stand up routine Kurosuchi decided to clean up the kitchen after Naruto. Naruto wanted to ask him about what he had heard in the doctor's office so he followed him into the kitchen. Naruto seated himself on the floor near the table and started by asking Kurosuchi about the animals found dissected in the cellar. Kurosuchi didn't want to have to show Naruto the entire experiment like he had with Sakura, so instead he just told him that it was just teenage angst. Naruto was puzzled by this answer and didn't think he was telling the truth. He then asked about why he was going to therapy for. Kurosuchi stopped washing the dishes and was silent for a moment. He then said, "Everyone thinks I killed my parents."

Naruto went silent himself for a moment, but then went on to ask, "Did you?" He asked this almost knowing that he was going to say no, but was surprised when that wasn't the case.

"I don't know." Kurosuchi's answer was confusing Naruto immensely. How could someone not know if they killed their own parents or not? When he asked this to Kurosuchi, Kurosuchi asked, "Were you in the room when I was telling my story?" Naruto nodded. "Then you should know that my mind is blank for a period of time, and then I'm suddenly being put into an orphanage. That's all I know. I was I therapy, and then my parents were dead. I don't know how they died and neither does anyone else. Their bodies were never found. But for some reason, everyone thought it was me. I'm supposed to be a crazy person who would do anything to anyone for any reason, and that's why I go to therapy and am watched over by other ninjas almost every night." Again, Naruto was silent. He wasn't sure what to think of Kurosuchi. Was he a killer? Was he crazy? When can he leave this all behind him? But then it dawned on Naruto that if Kurosuchi didn't even know what happened, and yet people treated him as if he did, then he was almost like Naruto himself. Taunted for no apparent reason throughout childhood and never given a chance. He started to feel bad for Kurosuchi. Kurosuchi looked at Naruto, and then said, "I have a guest room upstairs. You can use that while you're here, but I'm leaving early tomorrow morning, so you'll have to be out by then." Naruto nodded, and then followed Kurosuchi up to his room.


	4. Kiba

A rumor was spreading. There were supposedly some experiments going on that required dead bodies, and there was now a need for large mammals. Kiba heard through the grape vine that somebody wanted to use some of the dogs from the Inuzuka clan. Kiba couldn't believe what he was hearing, but soon Sakura told him of the night she spent at Kurosuchi's house. With the information on Kurosuchi's experiments plus the rumors about the use of the Inuzuka's dogs, Kiba was sure that it was Kurosuchi who made the request for the dogs. It wasn't long after he heard this that the Inuzuka clan was visited by a group of medical scientists. The medics were asking questions about the well being of the dogs and whether or not any of the dogs were becoming ill. With so many dogs in the kennels, Kiba's mother and sister both checked the records for any illnesses and then checked the kennels themselves to look for any sick dogs. After a thorough search, there were only a few cases of minor sickness, but nothing serious. There were also two cases of broken bones, but both dogs were sure to make full recovery and would be able to return to duty very soon. Throughout the search, Kiba was keeping an eye on the medics and didn't trust them at all. He stayed close to them while they were there, and then made sure they left. It was only because of prior warnings from his mother that Kiba did not run the medics of the property the moment they got there.

Akamaru had stayed home for the day for grooming and the like. Kiba would have happily done all the grooming necessary, but he was supposed to meet his team for training, and even though he didn't have Akamaru, Shino still thought it was necessary to train. Shino said that Kiba should train to fight without Akamaru in case they were ever separated and he was forced to fight alone. Kiba knew what Shino said was true, but he still felt very alone without his furry companion.

After a day of hard training with Shino and Hinata, Kiba was finally going home. He was still sore over the rumors that were spreading about the dogs being killed for medical experiments, and he just heard during the training session that after a look at the deer from the Nara clan, that the medical scientists were still in favor in using the Inuzuka dogs that were ill for their sick and twisted experiments. Kiba felt that he just needed to go home and see Akamaru and that everything would be fine, but that's when he saw Kurosuchi. He had never really talked to Kurosuchi, and the only reason he knew who it was, was because Sakura had pointed him out in a crowd. Kiba didn't know what Kurosuchi was doing out here, but what interested Kiba more than where he was, was where he was going. It seemed that Kurosuchi was headed strait for the Inuzuka clan's kennels. Not thinking strait after hearing all of the rumors going around, Kiba yelled at Kurosuchi to stop. Kurosuchi looked around in just enough time to dodge Kiba's fist flying right at his face. He was unable, however, to dodge the kick that followed after. Just as Kurosuchi was getting up off the ground, he saw Kiba was again running at him to put in a few more hits. Kurosuchi had only enough time to wipe the blood from his now bleeding lip before going on the defense. With Kiba's speed and strength, there was no way that Kurosuchi would ever beat him in a clear-cut fist fight, and because he couldn't get a word in to stop him, Kurosuchi had to 'cheat.' He waited until Kiba knocked him away against a tree so that he had enough time to form the seals needed for his jutsu, then waited for the next attack. Kiba was running blindly at him, and then pinned him against the tree he was thrown into. Once pinned, Kurosuchi grabbed Kiba's upper arms with his now chakra filled hands. The chakra forced vibrations to flow through Kiba's arms all the way to the finger tips, and left both of his arms numb. Kurosuchi dropped to his feet, now that Kiba couldn't hold on to him, then head-butted the dog-nin. With Kiba stunned and confused about his arms, Kurosuchi had enough time to throw a kick or two in of his own. With Kiba now still and far enough away, Kurosuchi formed a few more seals and started a genjutsu. Using the fear inside of Kiba, Kurosuchi formed a scenario that was sure to stop Kiba in his tracks.

Kiba was on the floor, and he couldn't feel either of his arms. It was as if all the blood had just gone from his arms and left them unusable. Then he heard something that lifted his spirits. It was Akamaru! Kiba saw his faithful dog running towards him from the forest, but then he also saw one of the medical scientists behind a bush getting ready to attack him! Kiba tried to yell at Akamaru to stop, but he found that he didn't have a voice. Then he tried to get up and run to him, but then he saw that he was sinking in a pool of mud and couldn't move. He looked up to see Akamaru attacked with needles from the bush, and then getting pinned down by the scientist. Kiba continued to try and reach his friend, but nothing he was doing worked! The scientist was pulling a hypodermic from his medic pouch and Kiba knew it was meant to kill Akamaru. Kiba closed his eyes tightly and screamed once more. This time he actually heard his own voice, but when he opened his eyes, he didn't see Akamaru or the scientist. He looked around and saw that he was on the forest floor and not sinking into a pool of mud. He tried to stand up, but found his feet bound. He also found that his hands were bound, but they were still numb so it didn't seem as important. A voice then came from behind him. "I don't know what you were thinking, but it's over now. What do you want?" Kiba did his best to turn and face Kurosuchi, now sitting on a tree branch above and behind him. Kurosuchi was holding a kunai ready to throw, and Kiba knew he was caught.

"I'm not going to let you take any of the dogs at the Inuzuka kennels. I won't let you use them for your experiments! It's wrong of you to kill animals for your twisted experiments and you won't get our dogs!"

Kiba looked up at Kurosuchi to see how he would react to that, but was surprised to see him almost laughing in the tree. "Well, I don't know where you got your information, but you should get your sources checked." Kurosuchi jumped down from the tree and walked up to Kiba and started to untie him. "The fact is that many of the medical scientists wanted me to continue research as soon as possible. I would agree with them, but they wanted to stop waiting for dead animals to test on and start making our own. They wanted to use the deer and dogs that are raised in Konoha, or to go out and hunt in the forest of death. The Hokage and I, however, concluded that the loss of any animals due to something other than natural causes in both natural and built habitats would be wrong and unnecessary. I was just on my way to deliver the news to you and your family. I think I dropped the forms though, so if you give me a second I'll go get them and you can bring them yourself." Kiba felt like an utter fool. He had just attacked someone who was trying to tell him just what he wanted to hear for the longest time. As he was getting up off the ground, Kiba was starting to get the feeling back into his arms again. He then was about to take the forms from Kurosuchi when he noticed the damage he caused. Kurosuchi had a badly cut lip and a gash on his shoulder from the tree he was pinned to.

'His ribs are probably pretty bruised to' thought Kiba. "Hey, sorry about the attack, it was a big misunderstanding. Maybe you could come with me to my house and we'll treat your wounds, it's the least I can do."

Kurosuchi just shook his head and said, "It sounds like fun but I am a medic and I can take care of a few cuts and bruises."

As Kurosuchi started to turn away, Kiba grabbed his uninjured shoulder and turned him back around and told him, "I won't take no for an answer! And I want to you to meet Akamaru too. He's never met you and still thinks you guys are out to get him, so he'll be pretty happy if you tell him your not." Without being able to get another word in, Kurosuchi was led to Kiba's house by the shoulder.

Once at Kiba's house, Kurosuchi first went to Kiba's mother and delivered the documents showing that the use of Inuzuka dogs would be unnecessary in the medical experiments. Of course once she saw the injuries on Kurosuchi, she immediately started yelling at Kiba. She was saying something about irresponsibility and thick headedness and the like. He was yelling something back at her about accidents and how he apologized. The yelling continued even after Kiba's sister came into the room; in fact, she started yelling as well saying something about too much noise and trying to sleep and such. Kurosuchi just stood in the middle of this Inuzuka family meeting, waiting for a chance to speak. After what seemed like a long time, Kiba's sister sat Kurosuchi in a chair next to the sink and started cleaning out the wound on his shoulder, even while still yelling at her brother. It was an awkward position for Kurosuchi to be in: in the middle of a family fight and getting his wounds cleaned out while trying to leave all at the same time.

Kiba's sister got finished with cleaning and patching up Kurosuchi's wounds and then Kiba lead him to his room where he slammed the door and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry 'bout my mom. She can be kinda' weird sometimes. And I guess we just caught sis at a bad time. She's usually a lot cooler than this." It was then that Kiba turned just in time to see Akamaru crawling out from under the bed. He looked kind of scared and Kurosuchi thought at first it was because of him, but Kiba assured him, "Akamaru really hates getting groomed by mom, don'cha' Akamaru?" The small dog answered by jumping into Kiba's arms and licking his face like he hasn't seen him in years. Kiba fell to the floor laughing with Akamaru in his arms. Again, Kurosuchi felt awkward, just standing there watching Kiba and his best friend playing there on the floor. Kurosuchi never really had a best friend, and never liked looking at what he was deprived of his entire life. Kiba sat up after a while and asked, "Hey, do you want anything to eat or drink or anything?"

Kurosuchi shook his head and said, "I think I should get going, I have…uh…things to do."

As he turned to leave, Kiba stopped him by asking, "Like what?" Kurosuchi couldn't think of anything and hesitated. Kiba just looked at him for a while, and then said, "You can just leave if you want to. You don't need to try and think of a reason to leave."

"No," said Kurosuchi, "it's not that. It's just…I don't know. I'm not very comfortable around people. I'm usually working and researching alone, and I don't get much time to socialize with anybody. Even as a kid, I just didn't talk with anybody without reason, never just got with people just to be with them."

Kiba was kind of confused with this. "Don't you have any family to talk to; any siblings…or your parents?" Kurosuchi had no trouble talking about his past with anyone anymore. He has recalled the story of his family's disappearance too many time to count with his therapist, so why was it hard to say it now? He didn't understand why this was any different.

But he said it anyways. "My parents are gone. I don't know what happened to them, but others think that…that I killed them. The bodies were never found. My brother couldn't support me at his place since he was always on the move being a jonnin, so I was put into an orphanage. He got really sick, my brother, after mom and dad died. I think he blamed himself for what I might have done. But I…I…" It had been a while since Kurosuchi had talked about his brother. It wasn't even a year ago that he died just before the finals of the chunnin exam, and he was someone that Kurosuchi admired above all else. "He died. He was killed by the sand ninja. He was one of the first victims." Kiba didn't know what to do. There was a guy in his room that he had invited in, and now this guy is opening himself up and crying. Kurosuchi was by now sitting against the wall with tears running down his horror stricken face, and Kiba didn't know what to do to make it any better. Kurosuchi tried multiple times to continue, but was unable to do so. The usually calm stone-like expressions of Kurosuchi were now wet with tears and unstable. His voice wouldn't work and even if they did, he did know what to say anymore. He just sat there.

Kiba finally got him to drink something, and after a while, Kurosuchi was back to almost normal. He and Kiba stayed up pretty late talking about different things, mostly Kiba talking and Kurosuchi was listening. Kurosuchi told Kiba about the experiments, but as interesting as they were, Kiba decided not to talk about it because it was work, and it bothered him with the whole experimenting-on-dogs thing. It was almost two in the morning when Kiba was finally in bed with Akamaru, having seen Kurosuchi to the door. He was wondering when he would see the medic scientist again, thinking to himself, 'He wasn't such a bad guy once he opens up a little, but I think he opened up a little too much.' He laughed to himself and turned over to go to sleep, wondering what the next day would bring.


	5. Accident at the Hospital

It was a few weeks after the meeting with Kurosuchi, and Kiba and Akamaru were just getting back from a mission out in Island Country. It wasn't too hard of a mission and nothing bad went wrong, but that didn't change the fact that Kiba was sore, tired, and cranky. Team eight could have gotten back to the village a whole day earlier if bug-boy hadn't slowed them all down searching for a special water spider while they were in Island Country. Kiba just wanted to get back into his own bed and sleep for a week. Maybe that would cheer him up.

The next morning, Kiba's mother woke him bright and early to feed the dogs in the kennel because she had to go off on a mission for the Hokage in Rice Country. 'Well,' thought Kiba, 'so much for sleeping in for once.' Kiba fed the dogs and then ate breakfast with his sister. He couldn't see why she couldn't have fed the dogs, but decided not to ask in case she was in a bad mood, like always. After a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausage and a giant glass of milk, Kiba decided to take Akamaru for a walk in the forest. They hadn't had a chance to do that in a while since they had been out of town, and he kind of missed the woods.

After running around the forest for at least an hour, Kiba thought that he would go to the Hokage and check up to see if his teams would have any missions in the next few days. On the way, he met with a few friends at the ramen shop. Naruto was talking with Lee inside, so Kiba decided to at least stop in to say, hi. After ordering a drink and hanging around chatting for a while, Lee and Naruto both left to go and spar for a while. Kiba said his goodbyes and went again to the Hokage's office. Once inside, Kiba saw that there were not many people in the office at all. Even the medical staff that usually came here in-between shifts at the hospital was not present. On his way up the stairs to the offices, Kiba saw Sakura heading down and in a very rushed manner. Sakura barely looked up at Kiba, gave a very quick "Hello," and then was off like a flash running towards the hospital. Becoming a bit confused, Kiba walked a little faster to the Hokage's office and knocked on the door. When there was no answer he knocked again, this time harder. Again there was no answer. Kiba looked for any notes around the door incase Tsunade left one to say she was on break or something. When he found none, he went to look for anyone who would know what was going on. Downstairs, Kiba found two medics rummaging through a big file, so he asked them if they knew where the Hokage was. "Are you kidding? She's at the hospital. We've all been busting our asses after the accident!"

Kiba was scared for a second. "What accident? Was anybody hurt?"

One of the medics looked up again at him. "Have you not been here the last few days? We needed to give about five organ transplants to some patients at the hospital who've just back from a mission that went wrong. We were running out of time and didn't have any donors, and finally we got a break and found one. After the transplants, everything seemed fine, but then it turns out that the donor didn't die of natural causes like we thought, but was diagnosed with some strange poison. We have no idea when she got poisoned, but now the organ transplant patients are starting to die, we've lost two already. Hopefully we can keep the other three alive."

The medics both ran out towards the hospital. Kiba wished he could help in some way, but knew it was worthless. At least he knew there were highly experienced medics working with them, and if there's any chance of success, it lay with them.

Kiba had gone back to his home and decided to wait for morning to try and find Kurosuchi. He'd ask about how the patients were doing when he saw him. But when the morning came, Kurosuchi still wasn't out of the hospital. Word from the nurses told Kiba that another of the patients had died. Kiba was worried about the patients, but there was nothing he could do, so he went to find his teammates to see if they would do any training with him.

It wasn't until the next day that the nurses told him that Kurosuchi had gone home finally. The last two patients had survived, all because of him and Lady Tsunade. Kiba thanked the nurses and ran to see Kurosuchi at his house, but then realized that he had no idea where Kurosuchi lived. He instead decided to go see Sakura, who, as Tsunade's apprentice, would have had a great hand in the whole deal. Maybe she would know the details and maybe even where to find Kurosuchi. He rushed to Sakura's, Akamaru beside him, and started knocking at her door. There was no answer, so he tried again. again there was no answer, so he went around to the side of the apartment building she was living at, and saw that the light was on in the room he assumed was hers, so he went back to the door and tried knocking again, this time adding a, "Hey Sakura! It's me Kiba, so open up!"

Kiba heard someone stomping towards the door and stood back as the door flew open to reveal a very tired looking Sakura. "WHAT!?" she screamed angrily.

Kiba sort of froze up for a second; not knowing really what to say, but finally decided on, "So...How are you doing?" He gave a slightly uncomfortable chuckle and Akamaru just whimpered and hid behind Kiba with his tail between his legs. Sakura was a very scary person when she was tired and angry.

Sakura looked Kiba in the eyes, then said, "I have not slept for the last 20 hours, and in the last 3 days, I've had about a total of 6 hours of sleep. I hardly have the strength to stand here, so please leave me to my bed!" She then started to close the door.

Kiba caught the door before it closed and said, "Wait! Can you just tell me real quick where I can find Kurosuchi then?" Sakura looked at Kiba again, but was too tired to tell him the rules about not giving out information about the other nurses and doctors. She instead thought that since she knew Kiba was a good guy, and that she could get to sleep faster, she gave him quick directions to Kurosuchi's house. Kiba quickly thanked Sakura and apologized for waking her, then ran off to see if Kurosuchi was a little friendlier.

Kiba reached Kurosuchi's house in no time. He lived quite close to the hospital, and was in a nicer district than Kiba was used to. He climbed the steps to the housed addressed as Sakura told him, and was surprised to see the front door ajar. Kiba knocked on the open door and called for Kurosuchi before entering, but there was no answer. Feeling a bit uneasy, Kiba decided to go inside to make sure Kurosuchi was all right. He took of his shoes upon entering, and couldn't help but notice how clean the living room was. Everything seemed so organized and taken care of, it was surprising that a somewhat young ninja-guy lived here. Kiba tried calling for Kurosuchi again before continuing into the house. He walked into the kitchen and was shocked to see a complete mess. After just leaving the cleanliness of the living room, this disaster was the last thing Kiba thought he'd see. Pans were scattered everywhere, the fridge was open and looked as though a bomb had gone off inside, and all the dishes were shattered on the floor. Taking a closer look at the scene, Kiba concluded that there was probably no struggle or fight because of the lack of blood, but that maybe somebody broke in. Kiba was starting to worry a bit more, and he walked towards the stairs, hoping to find Kurosuchi in a bedroom sleeping or something. Kiba went from door to door, opening them slowly and peeking in, worried that whoever broke in might still be there. He reached the end of the hall, and opened Kurosuchi's bedroom door, and when he looked inside, he almost screamed.

Kurosuchi was sitting on his bed, wearing nothing but a pair of very worn shorts. Nailed to the wall with a kunai was a large official looking document with 3 scalpels thrown at it. Kurosuchi himself looked almost dead: pale, thin, and not moving. Kiba then saw Kurosuchi's hands. His hands were so cut up and bruised that it looked like he had been punching a brick wall. The cuts on his hands looked like they might be infected and like they were not treated for hours with the blood drying and crusting over the wound. He also noticed a large amount of blood coming from Kurosuchi's chest. Kiba quickly went to him and tried to talk to him. He asked what had happened and what was wrong, but Kurosuchi was just staring at the document on the wall. Being so much closer to Kurosuchi, Kiba was able to see 3 semi-deep slashes in his chest. Kiba started to panic. He had minimal skills in medicine, and he didn't know what to do. He grabbed a scroll from his pouch and quickly wrote a very short note that read, 'Kurosuchi in trouble. Come quickly!' he handed the note to Akamaru and told him to give it to Sakura. Akamaru wined and his ears went down along with his tail. "I know she's scary right now, but Tsunade will probably be worse and I don't know how to find Shizune, Sakura is the best chance Kurosuchi has. Now go!" Akamaru whined once more, but then grabbed the note in his teeth and ran out of the house. Kiba continued to try and speak with Kurosuchi, but Kurosuchi just wasn't listening. He just kept staring at the paper on the wall. Kiba looked at the paper, and read that it was the diploma from the medical schooling Kurosuchi had received. Kiba started wondering why Kurosuchi would stare at this, but was unable to think of anything before Sakura was there.

"What happened?" she almost yelled.

"Well," Kiba started, "I don't really know. We came by to check on him and he was right here. He hasn't moved yet." Sakura looked at Kurosuchi for a short while, then wrote a small note on the same scroll Akamaru had given her. "Take this to Lady Tsunade. After you do that, I want you to go home and wait for us to call you. I don't want you to get in the way." After such a stern little statement, Kiba could only nod slightly and tae the scroll. He ran as fast as he could towards the Hokage's mansion, and all the while he prayed.


	6. Catching a killer

The Hokage had told Kiba to go home and wait to be summoned. She didn't want him to get in the way of the medics, but he would have to at least right up an official report on what he had seen. Kiba was now at his house sitting on his bed, impatiently waiting for the Hokage to send for him. He started to think that the messenger was taking too long and that something bad must have happened, when finally his mother came into the room. "There's a messenger from the Hokage's mansion here to see you." she said.

Without thanking his mother, Kiba ran to the front door with Akamaru in tow. The messenger told Kiba that he needed to visit the Hokage at the hospital where Kurosuchi was having his injuries healed. The messenger then took Kiba to the hospital and up to the third floor, where Kurosuchi was being kept. As Kiba was about to enter the hallway on the third floor, the messenger warned him that the third floor was usually reserved for the seriously injured who needed to spend a lot of time at the hospital, and that even though Kurosuchi would be moved to another hall once one opened up, Kiba would need to be silent while walking. While walking through the third floor hall, Kiba asked the Messenger quietly why Kurosuchi was here on the third floor instead of one of the first two where the less serious cases were. "Well," said the messenger, "the hospital is very busy right now, and the three patients who died recently were bedded here, so now their rooms are clear. The surviving two are still here, and will be here for another week at least." Kiba nodded his understanding and turned towards the door the messenger had stopped at. "Go on in sir. The Hokage is waiting for you in there."

Kiba entered the hospital room with a little caution and first saw Kurosuchi on the bed with his eyes closed. He had bandages over his chest and wrapped around his hands. Kiba started to approach the bed when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He turned to see Tsunade sitting at a very small desk in the corner near the door he had just entered. "I need him to stay asleep for now Kiba, so I'd appreciate if you didn't wake him. Now please have a seat for just a second."

Kiba took a seat next to the desk and asked, "Lady Tsunade, what happened to Kurosuchi? Will he be alright?"

Tsunade looked Kiba in the eyes for a few seconds, then pulled a form from the desk and handed it to him. "First," she said, "I need you to fill out this witness report, and after that I'll tell you what I know." Kiba sighed heavily and picked up a pen and took the form from Tsunade. He began filling out the report and was almost done when a large, suited man walked in.

"Sorry I'm late Hokage-sama, I came as soon as I heard. Now if you don't mind I'll start right away. I'm going to need to be alone with Kurosuchi for a while, so if you can just wait outside I'll call you as soon as I'm finished. Thank you so much."

Kiba was slightly confused as he was ushered out of the hospital room and into the hallway, and Tsunade looked more than a little irritated as she was pushed out herself. Kiba thought for a minute that Tsunade would just force her way back in, but instead she just took Kiba down to the lobby and sat him down at another desk. "I still need that report before I can leave."

Kiba quickly finished his report and gave it to the Hokage. As Tsunade turned to go back to her own office, Kiba stopped her, asking, "So, how is Kurosuchi-- and who was that guy that kicked us out? He didn't look like a doctor." Tsunade sighed and turned to Kiba once again.

"First of all," she started, "Kurosuchi is fine . . . physically at least. But the trauma of the last few days was really hard on him. He was up for almost three days strait, hardly eating anything. After all his work, three of the patients still died, but it was because of him that we were able to save the last two. I had him escorted home, and from there we only have your words to say what happened. Sakura told me what she saw, and by the sound of it, Kurosuchi felt the deaths were his fault and took it out on his own body. Now that he's in the hospital, he'll be analyzed by his Psychiatrist-- the man who threw us out earlier. Hopefully he can solve all this tonight and be done with it."

Kiba was a little shocked that Kurosuchi would do such a thing to himself and wanted to help him all he could. "Would you mind if I stayed with Kurosuchi here at the hospital, just to make sure he's gonna' be ok?" Kiba asked.

Tsunade told Kiba that it probably wouldn't do much good, but he could stay as long as it was ok with the psychologist. "He's really the one in charge of Kurosuchi now. There's not much I can do for him."

Kiba thanked the Hokage and walked upstairs and back towards Kurosuchi's room. He pushed the door open, not really seeing the 'do not enter' sign on the door. The psychologist was standing next to a sleeping Kurosuchi with his hands glowing with chakra, covering Kurosuchi's eyes. The man quickly turned to Kiba and with a fury and not moving his hands yelled at him to get out. Kiba muttered an apology and closed the door.

He stayed outside the door, trying to figure out what he had just seen. 'It must have just been some mind jutsu used by shinobi to force the truth out of people who would lie.' Kiba waited in that hallway for over 3 hours and had fallen asleep. It wasn't until a nurse woke him that he was told the psychiatrist had gone, and told the nurse to not allow anyone to disturb Kurosuchi, and that he would be fine. Kiba was really put down because he wouldn't get to see Kurosuchi, so he just went home to wait until morning when he would be able to see him during visiting hours.

The next morning, Kiba had a morning 'stroll' with Akamaru, and then went to train with his team. When he got to the training grounds, just barley in time, he was surprised to not see his instructor Kurenai. When he asked Shino and Hinata where she was, Shino answered, "There was trouble at the hospital, Kurenai told us to assume training-as-usual without her and she would meet us later to discuss how we did. Where are you going?"

Kiba was already running towards the hospital, not bothering to answer his teammates. He didn't know what was going on, but trouble was brewing at the hospital a little too often for it all to be coincidence, and he was afraid that something could have happened to Kurosuchi. But he was wrong.

When he arrived at the hospital, the first thing he noticed was that it wasn't in the state of an accident scene, but of a crime scene. An ANBU was at the door, and a nurse was telling a small crowd that all visiting was canceled for the day. Kiba ran to the nurse and started asking what had happened, but the nurse refused to give any information, and just told him to come back tomorrow. Not taking that for an answer, Kiba tried to break into the hospital through one of the windows in the back, but he was very quickly stopped by Kurenai. "I gave you and the rest of the team an order to do training, why did you disobey?" Kiba tried to get up from where he was pinned on the floor, but Kurenai wasn't going to allow it and held firm, Akamaru just cowering a little ways away, fearing Kurenai.

"Kurosuchi is inside and I need to know if he's ok! Please just let me see him!" Kurenai was a little stunned at this. She really didn't know who this Kurosuchi person was, and she thought she knew all of Kiba's friends, being his instructor. She was going to start asking Kiba some questions about it, but Tsunade stepped up from behind and told her to let Kiba up. Kurenai complied and let Kiba stand. Kiba looked at the Hokage and was about to ask what was happening when she told him to follow her.

Tsunade walked down the hall and into Kurosuchi's room, where Kurosuchi was sleeping, looking completely uninjured. Kiba felt much better knowing he was safe, but then asked Tsunade what had happened. Tsunade first closed the door, leaving the two of them alone, then turned to Kiba and said, "One of the two surviving patients from the incident a few days ago was murdered last night. We don't know who did it or why, but I need you to watch over Kurosuchi until we get everything checked out. I was going to leave a nurse here, but I need as much medical help as I can get, and your here very conveniently. You might have to stay here for the night, so make sure you have everything you need, and don't tell any of this to Kurosuchi. Just tell him you're just visiting or something. Do you understand?" Kiba was a little dumb-struck from the barrage of info just given to him, but he was able to nod his understanding once Akamaru barked in his ear. "Good." stated Tsunade, "I'll inform the nurses of your presence, so you shouldn't have any problems with security. Just try to stay here, and if there's any problem, just ring for the nurses with the remote by Kurosuchi's bed. That is all." With that, Tsunade left Kiba and Akamaru to watch over Kurosuchi.

Kiba was getting really bored. He had been sitting in that hospital room all day and had nothing to do. He had let Akamaru go home to play with the other dogs in the kennel and get something to eat, so he was alone with nothing but a few out-dated magazines to read. It was almost midnight when Kiba went on his 4th break to the kitchen. He just needed a little time to walk, a sandwich, and something with a lot of caffeine. He hated coffee so instead took a soda from one of the machines and hoped it would keep him awake through the rest of the night. As he walked back to the room, just about to exit the stairwell on the second floor, he heard someone walking through the hall. 'Who in the hell would be up walking around at this hour?' Thinking it was most likely a nurse but not chancing that it could be the murderer, Kiba quietly snuck into the dark hallway watching for whomever was making the noise. As he slowly turned a corner, Kiba saw a short, thin-framed body just entering one of the other patient's rooms. Again worrying that it could be the murderer, Kiba ran over and looked into the room. What he saw confirmed his fears.

The thin framed intruder had a pillow in his hand and was forcing the pillow around the sleeping patients face, suffocating him. Kiba burst into the room and jumped onto the intruder, pinning to the floor and placing a kunai to his throat. "Don't you move, or I'll . . ." Kiba stopped. He was looking into the face of Kurosuchi, and he was asleep. Kiba had no idea what was happening, so he called a nurse using the remote on the bedside table. He waited for a nurse to come, never letting Kurosuchi out of his sight.

He didn't have to wait long, and soon there were three nurses in the room with him. All three were asking Kiba what they were called for, and once he told them, they immediately called for the Hokage. While the Hokage was being summoned, Kiba and the nurses carried Kurosuchi back to his room and tied him down. One of the nurses told the other two to take Kiba to the lobby to await the Hokage to tell her what happened. Kiba and the two nurses left to do just that, knowing that the other nurse shouldn't have a problem holding Kurosuchi since he was tied up.

Kiba waited in the lobby for about ten minutes until finally Tsunade showed up, looking very grouchy. She started mumbling something incoherent, but when the nurses told her that Kurosuchi tried to kill a patient, she seemed quite instantly awake. She ran with Kiba up to the room, but when they got there, they only found an unconscious nurse with a cloth in her mouth. To Kiba, the smell of either was strong and made his eyes droop, and he quickly told the Hokage what the nurse was drugged with. The bed Kurosuchi was in was empty, the straps that used to hold him all undone. Tsunade pulled a small whistle out of her pocket and gave it a heavy blow, making Kiba's head ring with the sound. When Kiba got his head back together, there were three ANBU talking to the Hokage at the window. The three ANBU ran through the room and into the hallways splitting up. Kiba looked to the Hokage, awaiting orders, but she was busy calling all the nurses. "I need you all to quickly and quietly evacuate the hospital. Bring all the patients to the apartments across the street and tell the manager the situation. He should have rooms ready. I already have the ANBU watching all exits to make sure nobody gets in or out who don't belong, and keep an eye out for Kurosuchi. He's to be considered extremely dangerous. Do not approach him, call for the ANBU. Now go!" The nurses nodded and ran through the halls quietly starting the evacuation procedures.

Tsunade then looked at Kiba and told him, "You will accompany a trio of ANBU and try to sniff out Kurosuchi. It'll take a while for your mother to get here with Akamaru, so in the meantime we'll just use you."

"Yes ma'am!" Kiba said quickly before running out into the hall to try and pick up a scent. It wasn't very hard to find, and the three ANBU he was assigned with were with him and running downstairs, following the scent. The trail was fresh and was strangely mixed with another. 'Probably someone else with him,' thought Kiba. The trail led everyone down to the very lowest level basement, also known as the morgue. The ANBU searched the morgue but didn't find Kurosuchi, they did, however, notice the absence of a lot of corpses. "It looks like the target is trying to take his work with him." said one of the ANBU. "Can you pick up another trail?"

"I'll try," said Kiba, "but this was the strongest scent, so I doubt I'll be able to find a better trail." Kiba started running up the stairs, and when he was about at the third floor, caught a good scent again. He was following the trail, but he was starting to lose it. Just before he turned back and try covering the trail again, he caught on again. He was about to follow when he noticed where the scents were coming from. "He's in the vents." he told the ANBU.

Everyone froze for a second. Kiba was trying to think of a new strategy to find Kurosuchi while also keeping in mind that Kurosuchi might be watching at that moment. A new scent was starting to hit Kiba, and he didn't like it at all. It was sharp almost like an acid and smelt like rot. The smell was just about to really get to him when he heard something down the hall. Kiba looked towards the sound, drawing a kunai. The ANBU were already positioned to defend Kiba before his knife was drawn, with two ANBU at his front facing the sound and one just behind him with his sword drawn. 'These ANBU are really amazing when it comes down to it.' thought Kiba. Kiba looked down the hall and tried to see what made the sound before. What he saw was a man dressed in hospital robes, bandaged from head to toe, slumping in the corner of the hallway a good 30 yards away.

One of the ANBU in front muttered, "Must be one of the patients, lost in the confusion of the evacuation." The ANBU saw the patient about to fall and ran to his aid, and, able to with his great speed, to catch the obviously injured man. Looking around at the closest vents with his sword drawn, down the empty hall to his left, and knowing that his teammates were watching his back and Kiba, the ANBU confirmed that he was safe to speak to the man in his arms. He sheathed his sword and using the now free hand, he turned the bandaged man's face towards him to speak, and was shocked at what he saw. The bandages covered the entire patient's face, except for some loose bandages that showed his sewn up eye; the skin around it a pale green and starting to peel away with rot. A moment after the ANBU saw this, a thin line of smoke appeared from between the stitches around the eye, and before he could react the corps he was holding exploded, tearing apart a large section of the wall, leaving 3 stories of the building's corner bare.

Kiba had only seen the explosion and barley remembered being showered in debris, and the rest was a blank. The next thing he remembered was being sat-up by his mother, whom he recognized by scent. When he opened his eyes, he saw that she was shouting at him, but with the loud ringing in his ears, he couldn't even hear her. He also realized that he was wet and numb. It seemed the explosion had set of the fire sprinklers, and the entire hospital was probably soaked. A minute later, he was walking with his mother to receive current orders from the Hokage. With his hearing coming back to him, Kiba was told to retreat the hospital with Akamaru and await for further instruction. Kiba yelled back at the Hokage, telling her that he started tracking Kurosuchi and that he would find him, but Tsunade wouldn't hear it and sent him away, needing to get back to ordering the other ninja to their tasks.

Kiba ran down the hall towards the exit, but as he turned a corner, decided instead to climb into the closest vent and try to pick up Kurosuchi's scent again. 'With the sprinklers on because of the explosion, all the scents are gone from the floors themselves, but maybe if I could just get a little scent in the vents, where it's at least mostly dry, maybe I can...' Kiba mused to himself; Akamaru joined him in the vent and found a trail that led downwards. "Good job Akamaru!" Akamaru just gave a quit bark and wagged his tail to this compliment. Akamaru led Kiba down the vent until they were looking down into one of the security rooms. 'No way anyone would get in here unless they worked for the hospital. And Tsunade had told me before that this floor would be a waste to search since only the jonin class medics had the codes to get in.' Kiba did however see someone in the room, looking at the security screens. He could only see the back of his head, but Kiba knew it was Kurosuchi.

Kiba waited and tried to see which screen Kurosuchi was watching. It seemed he was watching a screen with a patient on it, and it seemed the patient was about to be attacked by the ANBU. 'The other explosion was caused by what looked like a patient, so I guess the ANBU aren't taking any chances.' He watched as the ANBU surrounded the patient, then two of the three rushed the man, piercing his chest and neck with their swords, killing him quickly. Kurosuchi quickly made a hand-sign and released his chakara with a short "Kai!" The security screen showed an explosion and then went to static along with a few others and a deafening boom echoed through the hospital, shaking the vent Kiba was currently in. 'So it was Kurosuchi behind the explosion, I'd better put a stop to this quickly before...' Kurosuchi spoke, breaking Kiba's train of thought. "Master, both of the ANBU in the second attack survived. One was injured, the other just slightly burned it looks like. I don't think we'll have any more luck without the element of surprise like our first victim."

"Damn," said a man in the room Kiba hadn't seen. "That means we'll have to take this fight outside. Ready some of your 'soldiers' and have them rush out and attack the apartments where they evacuate the patients. There's no way the ANBU will be able to stop all of them at once!"

"Yes sir." Kurosuchi went to the wall of the security room where Kiba couldn't see what was going on.

'What's happening!?' thought Kiba, 'And who was that talking just now?' Kiba saw movement through the vents and was almost sick when he saw three zombies walk to the middle of the room. He was completely shocked. They looked like they had no eyes, with stitches over them and their mouths. Even their ears seemed to be stitched shut. Kiba watched as Kurosuchi walked to the zombies and started wrapping them in bandages, head first. Once Kurosuchi was finished, the man who spoke earlier walked to inspect the wrapping job. That's when Kiba recognized him as Kurosuchi's psychologist!

"Good job Kurosuchi. Who would have thought that you, my failed experiment, would prove so useful while under my control. No suspicions, next to unlimited access to the hospital's morgue, and your perfect little living bombs. I'm almost sad that you'll have to die before the end of the night to avoid questioning. Oh well."

Kiba didn't like what he was hearing. Now he had to figure out how to stop them before they kill anyone else. The easiest and safest thing to do would be to go back and tell the Hokage so she can send backup, but that wasn't going to be the case.

"Now then," started the psychologist, "it seems that Tsunade has evacuated all the patients to the apartments across the street, just like I thought she would. What I need you to do now Kurosuchi, is to tell your bombs here to quickly run past the guards at the apartments, one-by-one. If they're attacked, detonate them and send the next one. We should be able to cause a lot of damage to the building and hopefully get rid of a good number of patients. That'll have the Hokage sweating bullets for a while. Now go!"

Kurosuchi turned to face the bandaged patient-bombs. He was beginning to tell the men the plan, when he looked strait at the vent where Kiba was spying. 'Oh crap!' Kiba slid out of the vent and as he fell to the floor, he threw some shuriken at the psychiatrist. When he landed, Kiba saw one of the patient-bombs reach out and catch one of the shuriken in his hand and another in his arm. Kurosuchi had jumped into the path of the third shuriken and deflected it with a kunai. Kiba could now clearly see Kurosuchi's face, and was confused to see that both of his eyes were shut. The psychologist only looked annoyed to see Kiba, and he went to stand next to Kurosuchi. "You're the boy who ran in on me and Kurosuchi in his hospital room aren't you?"

Kiba didn't want to answer an enemy, so just softly growled in response. 'Akamaru's still in the vents. Perfect. I can count on him to make a distraction when I make my next attack.'

Kurosuchi was still looking at the vent Kiba had just exited. "There is still another sir."

'Damn!' Kiba cursed at himself.

The psychiatrist looked at the vent and said, "It's only the boy's dog. If it gets in the way, just kill them both." With that, he turned and walked back towards the monitors on the wall.

"Don't underestimate us!" Kiba rushed past Kurosuchi with amazing speed and ran for the psychiatrist, claws and fangs bared. He slashed at the psychologist, but missed as the psychologist jumped to the side. Kiba turned to attack again but quickly ducked to avoid the scalpels thrown at him by Kurosuchi. The small blades just missed Kiba, one just grazing his head, and found their way into one of the security monitors. Kiba got up just in time to back away from Kurosuchi, now attacking him with a kunai in hand. Kiba deflected the armed hand, slashing it with his claws, and forced Kurosuchi to drop the weapon. Kurosuchi was then attacking randomly with just fists and kicks. Easily evading the amateur's taijutsu, Kiba caught both of Kurosuchi's hands and bent them towards the floor to stop him from kicking as well.

Kiba was trying to think of how to subdue Kurosuchi without really hurting him, when he saw him grin. In Kurosuchi's teeth, Kiba could just make out a thin piece of wire. Kiba didn't have time to withdraw when Kurosuchi threw his head back pulling the wire taught. Kiba felt a very sharp pain in his foot, and when he flinched with pain is when Kurosuchi wrenched a hand free from Kiba's grip and punched Kiba in the stomach, allowing him to escape. Kiba glanced down to see a long needle sticking deep in his foot, dripping with liquid. He looked back up to see Kurosuchi with his right sleeve pushed up revealing a wrist needle launching system. He was able to dodge the next needle successfully, but when he landed, Kiba was unable to land right due to the extremely sharp pain in his foot. Kurosuchi was lining up another shot with his needle launcher and Kiba knew he couldn't dodge it with his bad foot, the pain starting to creep up close to his knee, when Akamaru jumped at Kurosuchi! Akamaru caught Kurosuchi's wrist in his jaws just as the needle was leaving the launcher, sending the needle flying towards the far wall. Kurosuchi punched Akamaru in the side, but Akamaru held firm. Kiba tried to get up and help his friend and teammate, but couldn't seem to focus on moving his legs with the pain now up past his knee and in his thigh. Akamaru could only take another few punches from Kurosuchi before being sent through the air to land next to Kiba. Gasping, Kurosuchi started lining up his shot again, when Kiba saw one of his eyes start to open.

"Kurosuchi!" Kiba yelled, "Hey, it's me Kiba! Don't you recognize me?! I accidentally attacked you when I thought you were going to kill my clan's dogs, remember? You came to my house and my sister dressed your shoulder! Why are you doing this?" Kurosuchi's eyes were becoming slowly more focused, and his hands were starting to shake.

"Hey," shouted the psychologist, was still standing a good distance away from the fight, "Kurosuchi, kill the brat already and come back to work. You are only dreaming. You are still asleep. You can only hear me right now." The psychiatrist's voice sounded very low and strong yet soothing. Kurosuchi's eyes started to close again, but Kiba wouldn't give up. He had something that Kurosuchi was sure to remember. "You told me about your brother and how he died during the chunnin exams!" Kurosuchi's eyes suddenly snapped open, and he quickly turned towards the psychiatrist, but he was too slow. The psychiatrist had snuck up from behind and caught Kurosuchi's wrist.

"You failed me Kurosuchi." The psychiatrist punched Kurosuchi in the head with enough force to send him to the floor, sliding back a few feet. Before Kurosuchi could get back up, the psychiatrist was right next to him, and the psychiatrist stomped on the needle launcher still on Kurosuchi's wrist, breaking them both. Kurosuchi screamed in pain as his wrist snapped, and the psychiatrist lifted him up over his head yelling, "Now I'll have to finish this on my own, you failure of an experiment!" With that, Kurosuchi was thrown across the room and into a shelf holding the security footage, breaking the shelf and being buried in video cassettes as he landed.

"Now to finish you, you little mutt!" The psycologist walked slowly over to Kiba, laughing to himself. Kiba went to pull out a smoke bomb from his weapons pouch, but couldn't move his hand without sending waves of pain through his entire body. "I see you're really starting to feel Kurosuchi's poison. It is almost the opposite of anesthetics and makes you feel every movement of your body like you were tearing your muscles to do it. Very useful in a fight. It's actually used to soften up a body after rigor mortis sets in. Very useful to a mortician like Kurosuchi. Looks like you won't be moving for a while."

The psychiatrist looked sideways into his periphery just in time to see a scalpel and catch it mid-flight. Kurosuchi was getting up from the rubble of the shelf and was pulling out another blade when, "Kai!" the psychiatrist launched a jutsu at Kurosuchi. Kurosuchi grabbed his head and started screaming and fell to the floor. "Mind blank jutsu: Painful memories! All of the memories of me controlling you just returned to you. All the times I've had you kill in the hospital. Poisoning the organs before giving them to the transplant team. And even killing your own parents! The data entering your head will probably cripple your mind for life if it doesn't kill you first!"

The psychiatrist walked over to Kiba and pulled out a small surgeon's blade. "This is used to cleanly cut flesh from the muscle; the pain should be enough to kill you. Care to find out?" With Akamaru hurt next to him and his nerves screaming in pain whenever he moved an inch, Kiba didn't now what to do. Then there was a knock at the door.

"Clear the door! I'll get it open!" came a familiar voice. "DINAMIC ENTRY!" With that, the metal door flew off its hinges and in flew the 'Blue Beast' of Konoha, Mighto Gai. After quickly surveying the scene, Gai walked up to the psychiatrist and asked, "Who did this? Where is the one who attacked you and the hospital? And who are those three?" Gai pointed at the now fallen patients-bombs.

The psychologist nonchalantly made a few hand signs and said, "Look at me Gai-sama." As Gai turned to look at the psychologist, the psychologist placed glowing hands on either side of Gai's head. Gai immediately fell to the ground unconscious, and the psychologist knelt down towards him.

"Back away you traitor!" Kiba through lots of pain and the psychologist both looked at the broken doorway to find Kiba's mother and two other Jonnins standing there.

"If you take a step further, miss, you'll really see what is in mister Gai's head. Would you like that?" The psychologist was holding the flesh cutting blade against Gai-sensei's head. The Jonnins and Kiba's mother stayed where they were and didn't move.

"Why are you doing this?" one of the Jonnins asked.

"Why?" mused the psychiatrist. "Because that damn Hokage deserves to feel the pain I had to because she was a coward and left the village when she did. My family, including my parents and brother, died in this hospital because there were no special medics to treat their wounds. They would have lived if she had stayed, but because she was selfish over her own losses, she left them to die! Now I will kill her patients along with her once she's distraught over her losses! Hahaha!"

"You wont get away with it!" Yelled Kiba's mother. "The whole building is surrounded and now everyone will know it was you. It's over."

"Over? I think not! Anyone under the influence of my Mind Blank Jutsu will follow my every command when forcefully put to sleep! Just calling a set password will send them running to me to follow my every command! You'll never know who you can trust again! All my patients, whether recorded appointments or not, are under my rule! What can you do? Hahahahaha!"

Just then, a hand grabbed the psychiatrist's arm holding the surgeons blade. Another grabbed around his waist, and yet another grabbed his feet. The psychiatrist looked back to see the patient-bombs holding him from attacking Gai. Kurosuchi rose once again from where he lay, and said, "Living-bomb Jutsu: corpse control! You're finished!"

The psychiatrist looked shocked that Kurosuchi was alive and attacking him, and said, "I don't know how you survived, but incase you haven't been listening, there's nothing you can do! I just need to call the password and I'll have all the help I need to take you all down!"

"Not if you're dead." Kurosuchi looked into the psychiatrist's eyes with murderous intents pouring from his own.

"You're in no shape to fight, and detonating you're bombs in here would kill you, your friend the mutt, and everyone on the floors above us. Are you really ready to take that chance?"

Kurosuchi smirked. "I've already killed my own parents. What's wrong with killing them? As long as you die by my hands, I couldn't care less. I survived your jutsu because I always suspected that I killed all those people, but couldn't prove it to myself. You've just proved it to me. So all you can do now is pray, give up, or kill yourself. Any other way, and I'll kill you myself along with everyone else here. What do you think?" The psychiatrist looked dumb struck and scared. Nothing he could do would let him keep his own life, so he decided. He raised his blade to kill Gai, but before Kurosuchi could detonate his bombs, Kiba's mother's dog attacked the psychiatrist with great speed, and the other Jonnins soon followed, tying up the psychiatrist and placing him under arrest and taking him away for 'questioning'. Kiba watched as Kurosuchi was also arrested. Then as his mother went to pick him up, Kiba lost consciousness.


End file.
