So, hello there, you crazy readers! (And don't you dare say you're not crazy--if you are willing enough to even go onto this web site, then you are about as crazy as me. And that's pretty darned crazy.) Kichi Hisaki here. Glad that you avid readers have stuck with me this far--it's been a blast! Sorry for the late update--I was just released from the hospital. I had a speed-reading accident. I ran into a bookmark.

(gets beaten with many stale loafs of bread) Ow! Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to update so late! (gets beaten again) Or the lame excuse!

Thank you for all the lovely reviews. They have made my days. And thank you for the votes; they'll help the progress of the fanfic greatly near the end!

So, I bet you're wondering who the voted pairings are, so far. Here's the list:

Het pairings:

3 NaruSaku

7 NaruOC

2 NaruHina

Yaoi Pairings:

1 NejiNaru

1 ShikaNaru

And--believe it or not, peoples-- 1 KakaNaru. I laughed when I read the reason for the vote--they said that it would be interesting to see/read Arashi's reaction to the couple.

Lols!

Anyways, keep those votes coming people. I'm not going to officially decide the pairings due to votes until I have gotten passed the point when Arashi has been rescued, so if you wanna vote, do it now. If you vote later, you might be sorry that you didn't. (tsk, tsk)

So, if I promised that I would explain the reason for Naruto's coldness... Well, you'll have to wait until next chappie... (gets beaten with many stale loafs of bread again) I'M SORRY!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Remember, if I did, Shikamaru would totally be my slave. (He is the coolest character in the whole freaking anime!)

Remember that any of the OC characters that appear in this part of the story are not really that important. Unless they are demons or someone that Naruto and the gang are going to for help, like someone that Tsunade will be sending them to look for in a few chapters, the OC characters now are not really important. Like the ANBU of this chapter.

Onward reading!

---

Chapter Four

It was when the sun was first reaching its blazing tips past the horizon when their help arrived.

The ANBU came crashing in from the brush of the forest, and immediately Kakashi stood and ran over to them, still carrying the ever-growing colder Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura were right behind him, their expressions worried. "Thank God; I was hoping that you were from Konoha," Kakashi said—the relief and worry were apparent in his voice.

The ANBU with the hawk mask took a swift look around. "Is that imposter anywhere near here?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, he disappeared some time ago when he sensed you coming, but…" She faded off and glanced over to her blonde companion.

"Yes, Hokage-sama had her suspicions that whoever it was, they were after Naruto," the cat masked one said. "Kakashi-san, we will take him back to Konoha. It'll be much faster than you and those two behind you."

At that, Sasuke winced. He hated being a hindrance, but he knew it was true. However much he hated it…

When the hawked masked ANBU had Naruto in his arms, he yelped, the cold of the boy's body becoming suddenly apparent. "What the hell happened to him?" he asked, looking at the three.

Team seven shared a glance, unsure of what to say. The ANBU nodded. "Alright. Hurry back to Konoha. We'll take him to Hokage-sama." And then they disappeared, sprinting back into the forest.

Kakashi turned to face his students, his face worried, but relieved. "Get your stuff together; dowse the fire; clean up, whatever we need to do. After that we head back home."

"Right."

---

Tsunade was pacing in her office again. Bags hung underneath her eyes and her face was pale from lack of sleep. 'Come on… Hurry back to Konoha and tell me that he's alive…'

Shizune stood in the doorway, looking over at her friend. "Tsunade-sama, maybe you should rest. Staying up all night won't do you any good," she offered, pointing to the couch.

The Hokage whipped around, her eyes furious. "No!" she yelled, slamming a fist on her desk. "I can't sleep—if they come back and something happened, what good will it be if I'm asleep? I need to stay awake; I need to be awake when they come back; I have to know if he's alright…" she faded off, whispering, and holding her head as if to calm the raging storm inside her.

A sigh escaped from Shizune. "Well, at least have something to eat. If," she swallowed here, almost regretting the words coming out of her mouth, "if they come back and something did happen, what good will it do to have you collapsing before you can help Naruto?"

Tsunade stared hard at the floor, then submissively nodded. "Alright. But nothing big. I don't think that I can handle a lot of food right now…"

Shizune smiled. "As you wish." She turned and walked out the door, calling behind her, "I'll be back in a few minutes with some food for you, so just relax and sit tight."

---

The ANBU rushed back to the village, jumping from tree to tree in haste. Naruto had stopped shivering a little while ago—that was a sign to speed up, though the village was still a good fifteen miles away. If they didn't hurry, he just might…

The ANBU with the cat mask glanced over to the Hawk. "Put some more chakra into your feet—if we speed up a bit more we could get him to Hokage-sama in ten minutes," he said, bringing his hands up. Doing a few quick hand seals, he summoned a small feline onto his shoulder.

"Whoa!" The cat let out a loud hiss as it was pulled into the human world. Turning it's head to glare at the ANBU, it hissed again. "Any reason as to why you yank me away from my sleep and force me onto your shoulder when you're going this fast, ya jerk?" it asked, clearly peeved.

The ANBU nodded. "Yes. I want you to go to Hokage-sama's office and tell her that we shall be there shortly—also tell her that the Uzumaki child needs immediate attention as soon as we return," he order. The feline blinked, then looked over to the other ANBU.

At the sight of the pale blue Naruto in the Hawk's arms, a loud meow escaped the cat's mouth. "Whoa, what happened to the kid?"

"Koneko!"

"Alright, alright. I'll get off your back, no pun intended, mind you" came the sigh from Koneko. And without another word, it disappeared with a poof of smoke. As the Cat rolled his eyes underneath his mask, the Hawk glanced over to him.

"Do you think it was alright to trust Koneko with that job, Kiisuke?" he asked, hoisting Naruto up as the blonde slipped a little more. "He is… sort of young…"

The Cat merely nodded. "Although Koneko is a little rambunctious and a trouble maker, he will do what is necessary." He glanced back at Naruto. One could tell that he was smiling under his mask.

"Just like Naruto, here."

---

Tsunade let out a loud sigh as she dropped her chopsticks down on her plate. "That sure was refreshing," she said, smiling slightly. Shizune smiled as she picked up the dishes.

"What did I tell you? This way, you'll be ready for whatever happens." She took the plate out of the door and handed it to the ANBU. "Make sure that these get washed and put away," she ordered, and then returned into the office. "Now, how about you take your mind off of things by getting some work done, Tsunade-sama? You dropped all of it yesterday when Kata-san came in." She pointed over to the large and growing pile of paper work that lay on the desk.

Tsunade sighed. "Right, right…" Picking up her pen, she pulled a report in front of her. "But I can't make any promises with getting much work done."

A sudden 'pop' and a poof of smoke suddenly appeared on her desk, and Tsunade blinked and coughed as the smoke cleared. "Wh-what the hell!?"

A few hissing coughs filled the room as the smoke cleared to reveal a small cat-nin hacking on its own chakra exhaust. "Man, that's the last time I'm going to try and force my way out of my home without the proper help… Ugh, I feel like heaving up last night's mouse…"

Shizune and Tsunade both exchanged confused glances. "Um… Excuse me… kitty?" Tsunade tried, hoping to get the small thing's attention. Immediately, the feline blinked and straightened up, peering around the room with wide eyes.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, which one of you chicks are the Hokage? Never met her, so I can't say that I know which one of ya are the right one…" It stared at the both of them, adjusting the hitai-ate on its neck with a paw.

"I'm the Hokage," Tsunade offered, and eye twitching. 'Who the hell would send this cat on any sort of mission?' "What do you need?"

The cat nodded and turned to fully face her, straightening its back to appear dignified. "Hokage-sama, I am Koneko. Two ANBU sent me ahead of them to tell you that they would be here shortly, and that an 'Uzumaki' is with them, needing immediate attention," he said, then let out a breath. "And let me tell ya, he does not look good. All pale and blue."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "What!?" she exclaimed, standing up and knocking her chair back, startling the cat. "What happened? What happened to Naruto? Can you tell me?"

Koneko blinked at the questions. "Naruto? 'S that his name? Hmm… Well, I can't tell you what happened to Naruto—Master probably would have told me if he knew. From what I've seen, though, he's been to the north pole, from the looks of it."

Tsunade nodded, then grabbed her coat off of the coat rake behind her desk. "Shizune. Get me a medical team ready. I need people I can trust—you know which ones. I'll prepare a room; you get a hospital room ready for Naruto's stay," she ordered as she and Shizune swiftly walked from the office and to the hospital.

Shizune nodded. "And the ANBU?"

"They'll know to bring Naruto to the hospital."

"Right."

Koneko sat on the desk as the door to the room swung shut, blinking his eyes. He turned around and peered at the door, twitching his whiskers. "What makes that Naruto kid so important?" he asked to no one.

---

Kakashi led the shaken team back on the road to Konoha, his pack on his back and running swiftly with Sakura and Sasuke hot on his heels. He wished he could go faster, but with the level that the two students were at, this was the fastest that he could go without leaving the two behind.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw the determined expression of his students and let out a breathy, shaky chuckle. It was good to see that they were worried for Naruto, even if the poor kid got on their nerves every now and then.

Sakura winced slightly as she landed wrong on her foot, but pushed forward, sending a small amount of chakra to the pained area to ease some of the pain. Panting, she asked, "How much further to Konoha, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Not much—at this rate we should get there in a good twenty minutes."

A grunt came from Sasuke. "Good—as soon as Naruto is a little better, I'm going to kick his ass for getting himself in trouble," he said, smirking a little. The comment was followed by little chuckles from his team mates.

'He's going to make it,' they thought. 'He's going to make it.'

And as they continued their speedy and long trek home, they repeated those words in their head like a mantra, like a prayer.

'He's going to make it.'

---

"His heart beat has slowed—temperature is still dropping!"

"Get me a thermostat!"

"Hokage-sama, breathing is too shallow!"

"Pump some air into him—his lungs aren't retracting right!"

"We're running low on chakra!"

"Switch out!"

"Hokage-sama, he needs to get his temp up!"

"Rub his arms with chakra in your hands! Get the blood flowing!"

"Heart needs another jump start!"

"Damn… Quick, 3,000 volts!"

"Ready!"

"Stand clear!"

JOLT.

"Nothing, Hokage-sama!"

"Again!"

JOLT.

"Still nothing!"

"AGAIN!"

JOLT.

"Hokage-sama, we're losing him!"

"No! Hurry, 7,000 volts!"

"What!?"

"7,000 volts, now!"

"Ready!"

"Stand clear!"

JOLT.

"Nothing!"

"Again!"

'Naruto, I will not lose you to the curse… even if I have to stand here and continue doing this for days on end, I will not lose you!"

---

It was four hours later, after Team Seven had arrived at the Konoha Hospital, when Tsunade came through the doors, sweating, pale, and tired. There were bags underneath her eyes, and everything about her looked as if she wanted to just drop dead. But the small smile on her face was more than enough to ease the hearts of the team.

Sakura came running up the exhausted woman, her face worried. "How is he, Hokage-sama?" she asked.

Tsunade breathed in deeply, taking in the air outside of the emergency room. "He's finally stable and warm. Right now he's under a dose of some drugs, to keep him asleep for a little while." She sighed, then glanced over the team. "Do you know what happened to him to make his temperature just drop like it did?"

They all looked at each other, their faces blank of an answer. "No, not at all. All we know is that Toshike—the name of the imposter—was after Naruto. One minute the boy was sleeping, the next he was screaming his head off, telling Toshike to get away from him," Kakashi said, shrugging his shoulders.

"How do you know his name was Toshike?" Tsunade asked, brow furrowed.

"That's what Naruto kept screaming, and when I asked, the guy didn't say otherwise."

"Hmm…" Tsunade brought a hand up to her chin in thought, leaning on one foot. "Do you know how Naruto knew his name?"

"No," Kakashi replied, shaking his head. HE looked over at Sasuke. "You were sleeping next to him. Did you hear Toshike say anything about his name to Naruto?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I was still asleep when Naruto started screaming."

"So was I," Sakura said meekly.

"Well this doesn't make any sense…" Tsunade mumbled, messaging her temples; the lack of sleep was finally getting to her. 'I'm going to drown myself in sake when I get back to the office today…' "Perhaps Naruto knew who he was from the beginning?"

Sasuke snorted. "No way. The dobe would have pointed it out to us as soon as he could—that's just the type of guy the moron is."

"True," they all agreed.

"Maybe," Kakashi began, tapping his chin. "Maybe Naruto was suspicious of something, but he didn't exactly have anything to go by. He did seem rather lenient around the supposed Kata-san."

"Well, even then Naruto would have said something, don't you think? He's done something like that before," Sakura reasoned.

"… The dobe's been acting strange recently," Sasuke said, as if pointing out a crack in an old ceiling.

"What do you mean?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You mean you haven't noticed?" At the silence that followed his question, he sighed. "He's been a little quieter than normal—not by much, but just enough to get me wondering. That, and pale. Like he hasn't been getting enough sleep in the past month or so. He's been having trouble sleeping, from what I've seen."

"Why do you say that?"

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and grimaced at the sweat that had gathered there. "The dobe's been napping at every brake we've taken on our mission, as I'm sure you've noticed. I figured maybe he was exerting himself too much with all the running around he was doing on the road, at first. But…" He hesitated here, as if he wasn't sure he should be saying this. "But last night, before I went to sleep, he was tossing and mumbling in his sleep. I didn't really understand much, but when I tried to wake him, he was freezing."

Even though his face was calm, his eyes betrayed the tiny bit of worry that he held for his friend. "I didn't think anyone could get that cold during this time of year, even if they were sleeping outside."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "Do you have any idea when he started to get so cold?" she asked, hoping that the observant Uchiha had some idea. At the shake of his head, she sighed.

Kakashi blinked as a memory tugged at his mind. "I remember… Right before we left on the mission, he asked me how cold it was going to be that night." He looked at the Hokage. "My guess is that it started before we left."

Sakura shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. "That's a long time to be cold…" she whispered. "Why didn't Naruto tell us anything?"

"Who knows… Maybe he didn't want anyone to worry about him. That is how he is, no matter how much he craves for attention."

---

Okay, I have to cut this chapter a little short. The next part is a little long, and I want it to be followed by some other scenes, so I think it would be smarter to let it all flow in the next chapter. But whew! Glad I got that over with.

Seven pages of nothing but Naruto, Naruto, Naruto. Naruto everything! Naruto characters, Naruto worry, Naruto ninjas, Naruto leaders, EVERYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF! Except Naruto laughs. If there were Naruto laughs, there would be something completely crazy, like episode 101. (Now that was crazy.)

Gosh, my favorite OC character in this chapter is Koneko, the summon kitty. He's so adorable! I'm thinking of making him one of the important characters in this story. A summon animal as a main character... Now that's unusual!

So, I'm going to be getting the next Harry Potter book tonight. I'll be at least the tenth in line--no joke! They gave me a numbered ticket to get into the party later at the bookstore, and the ticket insures that I'll be able to get my ticket ASAP after midnight. Sugoi!

Keep those reviews and votes coming, people. If you leave me hanging without many reviews, I may not update. And I want to finish this story--it's one of my best ideas ever!

So yeah.

Love you.

Review.

Hearts.