Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Team 7 goes on a mission, which would last on average 4 days. However, it takes more them 2 weeks to return and when they do, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto are a little more distant from all their friends and Kakashi is more distant and serious than usual.

In a theoretical class at the academy, Kakashi was teaching when suddenly Naruto runs away, being followed shortly after by Sasuke. Some students notice an exchange of glances between Sakura and Kakashi, but nothing is said.

- "K-kakashi-sensei, don't you think it's better if you go after them?" Hinata says worriedly.

- "No, Hinata. It's okay, I'll talk to them after class," says the teacher in a serious tone, and a little aggressive for some.
Hinata looks at the last member of Team 7 present, and she seems irritated by something.

After class

The bell rings indicating the end of class. Everyone got up with their things ready to go home, or to the Hokage's office to receive a mission. Hinata, stayed at school, along with Shikamaru. Both were worried about what happened to the blond and the brunette who, after running out of the classroom, were not seen again.

- "S-shikamaru-san... I don't think it's a good idea to snoop on them...."

- "Hinata, let's not snoop. Let's just check in secret what happened with Naruto and the grumpy."

As they said this, they both saw Sakura and Kakashi at the end of the hallway talking about something. Few words were recognized, among them "idiot" "he forgot " "important" "blood" and "ourselves" which left them confused. The two in the distance ended the conversation and continued their way towards the exit.

- "Hinata... what do you think they were talking about?"

- "I don't know..."

- "Come on! Let's follow them!" Shikamaru starts to "run" discreetly, Hinata lags behind a bit but follows him soon after.

Somewhere near the forest

- "Where do they go-" Hinata is interrupted by Shikamaru. She is confused but soon understands the reason.

- "NARUTO YOU IDIOT! DID YOU FORGET TO EAT *AGAIN*!??!?!?"

- "I'M SO SORRY! I didn't mean to!!"
- "Holy shit in Naruto. In front of the whole class? Idiot."

- "Even you Sasuke????"

- "Calm down, calm down. We're all new to this subject. We have to get used to it. It wasn't his fault. Naruto, are you better now?"

- "A little bit sensei. I thought I could hold out until the end of class, but when I reached my limit I had to run. It would have caused too much attention so I thought it best to move away...."

- "It's okay Naruto. It was your best choice." He strokes the blond's hair

- "So, have you eaten yet?"

- "Yes"

- "Okay then. Sasuke, did he get a fever this time?"

- "No sensei. Of all the things that happened to us, his today was the least "violent" compared to yours that day..."
He finishes the sentence and a silence falls.

- "It's been 2 weeks since we've been like this, right?"

- "Yes" says Sasuke.

- "Sensei?"

- "Tell me Sakura"

- "Are we going to be like this forever?" Sakura says with a sad tone of voice

- "Maybe... those bastards didn't give any useful information about the cure but there's a tiny chance it's only temporary."

- "I hope so... Do you think we should tell our friends?" -"I don't know, Sakura... I don't know..." He opens his arms and the three of them hug the oldest (including Sasuke, which is a rare thing)

-"We're a team. Almost a family if the grumpy lets us. We'll get through this. And then I'll become Hokage! DATEBAYO!"

Sakura and Kakashi laugh a little and Sasuke just has a little smile on his face

-"Of course, Naruto," Sakura says with a smile. "But don't forget to eat next time, you idiot! If you get sick like Kakashi-sensei did in front of the class, we're screwed, you know! There won't be an Iruka-sensei being an angel to help us!"

-"Y-yes, Sakura-chan!"

-"Let's go. We have to go back now. It's my time to eat soon. It's yours too, right, Sensei?"
- "Yes, yes, let's go."

They head toward the forest.

- "Shikamaru-san... what could they be talking about...? Are they sick? Why didn't they tell us anything?"

- "I don't know, Hinata... but we should leave here. I don't think it's a good idea to go any further than this."

2 weeks have passed since Naruto and Sasuke left the room. No one has said anything.

- "Naruto looks a little bit without spirit today, isn't he? Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan haven't left his side and Kakashi-sensei hasn't come today. I wonder what's going on with Team 7?" Ino says.

- "I have no idea, but apparently they've been acting strange since they got back from the reconnaissance mission they had a few weeks ago." Neji says.

Hinata looks at Shikamaru and he looks back at her.

- "What do you think about going to talk to them?" Lee says.

- "I-I support..." Hinata says.

...

- "Good morning, friends! How are you on this beautiful day?" Choji says with great excitement (he got a slice of cake).

Sasuke and Sakura look at each other and then look at Naruto who is sitting with his head down in one of the desks.

- "Good morning Choji, good morning friends. Do you need anything?" Sakura says, trying to sound as friendly as possible.

- "We were worried. What happened to Naruto? Is he okay?" Shikamaru says, being direct.

- "Naruto? He's okay... his fish died so he's sad." Sakura says, receiving an instant look from Sasuke.

- "Really? That's a shame Naruto Kun.. my condolences," Hinata says sadly, looking at Naruto, who just raises his arm with a '👍'.

At that moment, Kakashi opens the door to the room and calls for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.

- "It looks like we have to go. We'll talk later, okay? Come on, Naruto, get up."

Soon, the three of them are no longer present in the room.

- "Sakura lied. Naruto never had a fish." Shikamaru says.

P.O.V. team 7

- "Really? A fish?"

Sasuke asks indignantly
- "You had a better idea!?!? Because if you did, you didn't say anything"

- "Anyway, sensei, what did you find out?"

- "First, let's leave the school"

A while later

- "So what?"

-"As if it wasn't enough that we can't eat normal food, now the more time passes we'll 'lose' our humanity."

-"HOW???/ WHAT?!" Sasuke and Sakura say in fright.

-"I know. Apparently, the more emotional you are, the faster this process starts. That's why Naruto is like this."

-"But what will happen to Naruto?"

-"Theoretically, he's still at 40% of this problem. He seems so different because this process takes away some of his energy, so he's still fine, but he's tired. Until we find a cure, he won't get better."

-"So... I'll be next... So Kakashi-sensei is Sasuke-san last?"

- "Probably."

-"I think we should go talk to Hokage-sama. It's not good for Naruto to be in contact with our class. If we do it with her, she'll allow Naruto to not go to school. It's better than him disappearing out of nowhere. It would only make the situation worse, since there are intelligent people with us, right? Shikamaru?" Sasuke activates the Sharingan and looks at a bush.

-"I figured you'd find out as soon as I entered your field of perception." Shikamaru says, coming out of his hiding place.

-"What??? Shikamaru-kun??? But wha-"

-"I'm glad you noticed too, Sasuke." Kakashi says. "You've evolved a lot."

-"I'm sorry for listening to your conversation. But honestly, I don't regret it. What's happening to you? What does it mean to lose your humanity. Why is Naruto like this?" Kakashi takes a deep breath, revealing a little of his tiredness.

- "Do you really want to know where my students and I are getting ourselves into?" Kakashi said with a serious look and tone of voice.

.

.

.

.

- "Obviously."

Chapter Text

A few long seconds of silence settled in that place.

Kakashi takes a deep breath again.
- "If you want to know... okay, come on over, the story is kind of long. It's already a little late. We're going to sleep here. Do you want to stay too?"

- "Okay."

- "It'll be your turn soon, Sasuke. We're in the forest. You know that, right?"

- "Yes, of course."

- "Sakura, set up the tents, okay?"

Sakura nods and starts setting up 4 tents.

Kakashi sits on the floor and lays Naruto on his lap (he had been sleeping since the beginning of the conversation) and tells Shikamaru to sit down too. (He sits down)

- "So, what do you want to know?

- "What happened on the mission a few weeks ago?"

- "Smart. Let's go."

Flashback on

- "Kakashi-sensei!!!!!! What is this mission about???????" Naruto says with his natural excitement

-"Recently there was a big fight between 2 organizations over this region, but we were informed that the fight has already ended and this area has already been evacuated. Our mission is to check the damage caused by these organizations."

-"It seems boring..."

-"Kakashi-sensei, do we have more information about these organizations?"

-"Yes, the 2 organizations are organizations that study living beings. Both plants and animals, as well as humans. But one of the two organizations apparently decided to do real experiments on human beings, which is a crime. The other organization found out about this and got angry, I don't know. In the end they fought and no winner was determined. There may still be people from these laboratories here, so don't let your guard down."

-"Hai!" (Like 'understood' in Japanese)
The 3 youngest speak.

After a few more kilometers

-"We're here. It was here."

They observe a large area that was completely devastated.

- "Wow... there really was a huge fight here..." says Sakura shocked

- "be careful what you touch. Things here may still have traces of something that was used in the battle." The teacher warns.

-"..."

- "sakura? Are you okay? You suddenly got quiet"

- "this place is strange... just to me? It feels like we've entered another dimension... the air is heavier"

- "of course this place is strange! There was literally a war- hmpp"

-"sasuke?" Everyone looks... but he had disappeared.
-"SASUKE!?!?!"

-"Everyone bets!"

-"HAI!"

-"Boys! There's someone in the middle there! She looks hurt!" Before she could even finish her sentence, Sakura ran towards the injured person, but soon she disappeared.

- "SAKURA!?!?"

- "Naruto! Calm down! That's what they want!

- "More Kakashi-sen-hmpp" Naruto disappears.

- "Naruto?..."

Kakashi disappears too.

A few hours or days later.. we woke up in a dark place.

- "W-where.... I........there my head..."

-" Oh! Let's see, the jinchuuriki woke up first..." (1st voice)

- " HA! I won!" (2nd voice)

-" shut up! I thought the Uchiha was going to wake up first. UGH." (3rd voice)

- "who... AH! SAKURA-CHAN! SASUKE! KAKASHI-SENSEI! WHERE ARE THEY??? WHO ARE YOU?????"

- "damn! You woke up with everything huh?" (2nd)

- "shut up there boy! Stop being an idiot because yelling won't solve anything! (3rd)

Naruto tries to get free, but it seems like he was tied up by some kind of plant that sucks chakra and then he starts to feel a shock wave invade his body.

-" AHHH" he screams in agony.

- " first. Shut up." (1st)

- "since he was the first to wake up, can we start with him????" (2nd)

- "hehe... you bet on him. Do whatever you want." (1st)

- "who... are you guys?"

- "you don't need to know, honey! The only thing you need is faith! To get out alive! If everything goes well, you'll be out of here in 2 weeks! We're going to have fun!"

- "what... what...?"

He hears the sound of metal hitting each other and soon feels extreme pain coming from his arms and legs. All his efforts were in vain because with brute force, he received a shock, and with chakra, he was absorbed by the plant.

I won't go into details, but we were all tortured a little.

With our health weakened, they injected substances into our bodies.

In the end, we theoretically became vampires. We can't stand normal food.

We've tried, and the results weren't good, and there they gave us blood, which didn't improve much.

If we go without blood for a long time, we can get sick very quickly and vomit our own blood.

That's why Naruto ran away that day. Sasuke went after him to make sure it was just our blood, because there could be other things.

EWe hope this is temporary and that it will soon be out of our systems.

All that's left is for all the substance to leave our body.

Chapter Text

- "Do you need any more information, Shikamaru?"

-"...."

- "Kakashi-sensei! I brought dinner!"

Sasuke arrives with a dead wild boar in his arms.

- "That's great! Thank you so much!"

- "K-kakashi-sensei?"

- "Ah! Hello, Naruto! Finally! Are you better?"

- "So-so... I still feel weak... I'm sorry for being useless now..."

- "You're not useless, Naruto! You're an idiot! That's what!" Sakura says, wiping her hands. Now there were 4 tents set up

- "Kakashi-sensei... Why didn't you tell the others? For Mrs. Tsunade?" Shikamaru asks, a little stunned by all the new information.
- "Why is Shikamaru here?" Naruto asks (he was sleeping)

- "He followed us and Sensei told us everything." Sasuke answers as he lights a fire

- "It was voted by the majority of us that if this problem didn't go away, we would notify her. As you heard before from Sasuke, we will talk to her."

- "I understand... but what's happening with Naruto? You didn't say that."

- "The longer we stay like this, the more our minds will 'turn off' and it happens faster with emotional people, I mean, with people who are normally more lively. In theory, if our minds turn off, we will become just beings who don't think rationally, without memories and without feelings.

- "I realized that something was really happening. I don't remember things from the past right now, and things that aren't important to me are also disappearing." Naruto says as he looks at his own hand. Kakashi strokes the blond's hair in search of comfort.

- "Calm down, kid. Everything will be fine. You're going to become Hokage, right?" Kakashi exclaims, trying to cheer the boy up, but he just looks at him in silence and goes to one of the tents.

- "Idiot... Sakura, can you take the boar's blood? I'll talk to him..."

- "Okay..."

- So. Any questions?"
Shikamaru looks at him... and then shakes his head.

- "No. But thank you for trusting me. You'll talk to Tsunada-sama tomorrow... right?"

- "Most likely."

- "Okay..."

- "And what are you going to do now?" Sakura says that she is now covered in boar blood

- "What do you mean?" Shikamaru asks with confusion

- You already know the truth and got the answers you wanted. Are you going to stay here with us or are you going to go back to your house? There is plenty of meat here if you stay."

- "I'll stay. I don't need to go back to the village right now." Shikamaru says rolling his eyes.

- "Great! Your meat will be ready soon. Come on sensei! Your cup is here."
Sakura says raising a cup in her hand.

- "Oh, right. Thank you very much." He says standing up and going to the girl.

- "When you're done, can you take Naruto-kun's and Sasuke-kun's cups for me, please?" I need to take care of the rest of the boar meat and Shikamaru-kun's meat," she asks as she gestures over the meat.

- "Sure." He takes the glass of blood reserved for him, and drinks it quickly while Sakura does the same with her own glass.

(Shikamaru looks from afar, feels a little repulsed, but ignores it.)

- "I'll go take it to them." He exclaims as he takes the 2 remaining full glasses and heads towards the tent where Naruto was.

MEANWHILE WITH NARUTO AND SASUKE!

Right after Naruto enters the tent, Sasuke enters too.

- "What do you want, Uchiha?" Naruto says, looking away from the dark-haired boy.

- "... How are you?..."

- "Tired.... I'd say..."
He says still without looking at Sasuke's face.

- "I heard about you forgetting the past... what do you.. do you still remember?"

A few seconds of silence

- "I remember a little about the guy who helped us when Kakashi got sick. I know I've met him before, he took me to ramen a few times, he is like a father for me i think... but nothing more before that."
He speaks in a sad tone, which is unusual since we're talking about Naruto.

- "Do you mean Iruka-sensei?"

- "Yes, he."

- "And what do you remember about Team 7?"

- "Some missions, some events, some Kakashis arriving late, you rejecting Sakura and she always came back... when you tried to run away from the village, but I stopped you. That was the first fight I won from you. Not much more than that."

- "..."

- "What?"

- "Is it scary?"

- "What?

- "It's scary... this feeling of losing yourself little by little?"

- "It's obvious-"

He is interrupted by Kakashi who is holding 2 glasses with a red liquid

- "Look at the dinner!" He says while indicating for both of them to take the glass and drink.

- "Thank you very much" says Naruto as he takes the glass and drinks

- "Thank you sensei" says Sasuke as he drinks

...
- "What are we going to do now sensei? We don't know if there really is a cure, if there isn't we're going to die, right?"

- "I prefer an animated Naruto. This one looks like you Sasuke" says Kakashi

- "HEY!" Sasuke exclaims irritated

- "For now, let's believe in our main theory okay? We'll talk to Tsunada-sama to see what we can do to help you, okay, Naruto?"

- "Okay..."

- "Now we'll have to find out where you're going to sleep, since Shikamaru will be with us tonight. The most appropriate thing is for Naruto not to sleep alone. Sakura probably won't want to sleep near him, since he's a man. It's between you and me, Sasuke." The older man explains.

- "The most appropriate thing would be for him to sleep in your tent, Sensei. Since you're the strongest, and you're an adult. The tents are big, so if we each sleep in a corner, it's settled."

- "I agree, is that okay, Naruto?"

When they turn to Naruto, they both realize that he's already asleep.

- "That idiot..."

- "Then I'll sleep here tonight." He takes a deep breath, "What's bothering you, Sasuke?"

- "... Naruto said that he doesn't remember many things from the past anymore. He doesn't have many memories about Iruka-sensei... That bothers me, since Iruka is almost his father... and now he doesn't remember..."

- "It's complicated... and we also don't know if when we're cured, our memories will come back... so we have a lot of challenges." Kakashi says with a sad tone of voice, as he positions Naruto in a more comfortable position.

"Let's go outside and see how Sakura is doing. I'm afraid that's going to happen to her soon."

The rest of the night is peaceful, Shikamaru eats and then goes to the tent that was assigned to him, Sasuke and
Kakashi update Sakura on Naruto. They then put out the fire and go to sleep.

Chapter Text

The next morning, incredibly, Naruto wakes up first, feeling more energetic, he packs his things and then wakes up Kakashi.

- "Good morning Kakashi-sensei!"

- "Ah! Naruto! Good morning.. I see you're better."

- "Better is a strong word." He says with a smile. "But I'm feeling much more energetic now."

- "That's good. Are the others waking up yet?"

- "No. I was the first."

- "Alright, go wake them up while I pack my things."

- "Hai!" The blond exclaims, as he leaves the tent.

- "Guys! Let's wake upppp!" He shouts as he shakes the tents.

Everyone wakes up, complains about the noise, but is happy that Naruto is more excited.

Some time later, Team 7 says goodbye to Shikamaru and heads towards the Hokage Tower.

- "Before we get there, what's the Hokage's name?" Naruto asks, a little embarrassed.

- "..." The three of them look at each other in silence.

- "Her name is Tsunade. You usually call her Grandma." Sakura explains.

- "Ah! Okay. Thank you, Sakura-chan."

Some time later. They arrive at the Hokage Tower. Naruto knocks on the door, and when he hears a 'come in!' he opens the door.

- "Good morning, Grandma Tsunade!" He says excitedly, while the other members of Team 7 look at each other again, apprehensively.

- "Good morning Naruto! How are you? Do you need anything? I see the rest of your team is with you."

- "Good morning, Tsunada-sama," Kakashi says, bowing in respect.

"We wanted to talk to you. It's important." He explains in a serious tone. Tsunade realizes that the matter is serious and changes her relaxed posture.

.

.

.
- "In short, that's it." Kakashi finishes.

- "WHAT??" exclaims the Hokage.

- "Now Naruto is slowly losing his memories. He doesn't remember you anymore," Sasuke says, joining in the long conversation.

- "H-how does he not remember me?? He came greeting me as usual!"

- "Before he arrived, he asked us your name, and that's how he acts with everyone."

- "Oh... I see.... Naruto, do you still remember Jiraya?"

- "I don't remember anyone with that name... but could you tell me what he looks like physically?" Naruto speaks, who was previously in the corner of the room, just observing.

- "He's tall, has some red stripes on his face and has white hair. Many people know him as 'perverted sage' which is not a lie."

- "Ah! So the guy who trained me is called Jiraya? How cool!"

- "Naruto, would you allow us to do some tests, to see how the rest of your body is?"

He just nods.

- "Tsunda-sama, you'll report all this to the others, right?" Sakura asks.

- "Yes, Sakura.. I will."

- "Because Sasuke-kun and Shikamaru-kun or Iruka-sensei can help you, since Sasuke still has the best memory among the four of us, and Shikamaru-kun found out yesterday, and Iruka-sensei helped us once."

- "Right. You guys talked about the possible order in which Naruto's problem will happen to you, right?"
Kakashi and Sakura agree.

- "Do you guys feel different yet?"

- "I'm still normal, Hokage-sama." Kakashi says.

- "I don't feel much... but it's like Naruto described before... memories from the back of my mind are slowly disappearing. It's... agonizing."

- "Okay. You go with Naruto to the hospital to examine her. Since your process is slower than Naruto's, this might help form a cure faster."

- "Hai.."

At school

- "The whole team 7 is late..." Neji says, rolling his eyes.

- "Shikamaru hasn't arrived yet either." Ino says, adding new information to the group.

- "After Shikamaru said the fish didn't exist, he went after them and couldn't be seen again-"

Kiba explains, before being interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

- "S-shikamaru-kun! Are you okay? Where were you? We were worried."

- "I went to investigate something, but it didn't lead to anything." He sighs in false frustration. - "Hinata, can I talk to you in private?"

- "S-sure Shikamaru-kun"