A/N

Hopes; crushed

Naruto; crushed

Hotel; Trivago

Sorry not sorry.

~~~~~

For a moment the clearing was silent, but the silence was soon interrupted by the vile sound of Orochimaru laughing.

"How brave!" He cackled. "Truly commendable!"

Kana slowly, ever so slowly, walked over to the huge fallen branch, and more importantly, Naruto. She dropped to her knees.

"Naruto?" She croaked.

His one visible eye drifted over to her, but was glazed over, as if he couldn't actually see her. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he said nothing.

Sakura screamed, a shrill and horrified scream. She pounded a fist into Naruto's chest.

"You idiot!" She wailed, choking on her sobs. "Why'd you go and do that?! You! You...!"

She broke into uncontrollable tears, muttering things no one could make out. Sasuke was silent, staring at his downed teammate with an unreadable expression. If he hadn't already experienced tremendous loss he would probably be freaking out. Instead, he knelt at his friends side and went still.

Azumi seemed like the first one to snap out of her daze, she shoved Sasuke over and brought a hand to his neck.

"What a-are you doing?" Kana asked.

"Checking his vitals," She replied. "I'm no medic nin, but I know the basics."

She counted in her head as she took his pulse, holding her breath to stay still. It didn't take a medic nin to see that he wasn't doing good. Half his body had been crushed under the tree branch, he had most likely fractured his ribs on that side and who knew how much internal bleeding was going on. Then there were also his organs, which were probably crushed, pinned closed by the tree branch. There was so much damage and so little hope.

"He has a pulse, but it's so slow and so weak." Azumi sighed. "We shouldn't move him either or he could bleed out depending on how his ribs may have broken."

Orochimaru cackled again. "I could help him, but for a price."

"A-are you a doctor?" Sakura asked between sobs.

"Something like that." He agreed, waving off her question.

"What is the price?" Kana asked.

"Well for one, I need someone with regenerative abilities to transplant his organs." He grinned, knowing he had won their interest. "And I also would like to give Sasuke a small gift."

"I can give him parts of my organs, but he will never be the same." Kaneki said. "If he were to change, would he still lead a happy life?"

"Of course," Sakura said. "We would love him anyway."

"Would you really?" Kana cut in, knowing where this was going. "Kaneki and I aren't completely human, giving him organs would make him like us."

Kana's chocolate brown left eye changed to glaring red, the whites turning soulless black. Kaneki's left eye matched Kana's.

"At least once a month we consume human flesh to survive," Kaneki admitted. "In return, we gain the ability to regenerate, we can make weapons called kagune, and our skin is much harder than a humans, meaning swords and kunai cannot injure us."

"So Naruto would be like that?" Sasuke asked.

Kaneki nodded.

"And we couldn't give him our organs instead?" Haku asked.

"No, I'm afraid not." Orochimaru said in fake sorrow.

"I don't care what he'll be like!" Sakura exclaimed. "Just save him!"

"And Sasuke, your answer?" Orochimaru grinned.

"I'll take your fucking gift." He growled.

"Excellent." Orochimaru chirped.

"May I ask for one last thing?" Azumi bravely asked.

"Kukuku, what is it?" He humored her.

"After all the hell we've been through, can you at least help us pass?" She asked. "I'll even give you a spare heaven scroll."

She held out one of the scrolls.

"I have one earth scroll, and I'll give it to you free of charge." He graciously allowed.

"Alright." Azumi huffed.

Orochimaru tossed her an earth scroll, which she quickly tucked away.

"And now, we should start the procedure," Orochimaru grinned. "I don't have any anesthesia so knocking you out should have to do."

"Wait, wha-"

Before Kaneki could finish he was promptly knocked out by Orochimaru slamming a kunai handle into his head.

"Do as I say, and if you're squeamish, look away." Orochimaru snickered. "Although you'll miss all the fun stuff."

Everyone ignored his last comment and just started to lift the fallen tree branch off Naruto's right side.

~~~~~

The operation went well, there were no complications, and after some medical ninjutsu, he was stable. Bandages were wrapped tightly around his chest, stomach, his right arm and leg and his right eye. Red scars pulled at his face, disappearing under the bandages. Kaneki also had some bandages, however they were wrapped around his stomach.

How'd they cut him open? Kana followed Orochimaru's instructions and used Kana's purple Kagune as a scalpel.

The only thing left to do was Orochimaru giving Sasuke his 'gift.' It was a very awkward silence. Everyone knew what was supposed to happen next, but no one said anything.

Orochimaru flew through handsigns suddenly, and his neck shot towards Sasuke, his mouth wide open with fangs. Sakura's legs tensed, along with everyone else, however none of them moved. Maybe it was fear, but overall, it was the deal. Sasuke agreed to it.

Sasuke dropped to the ground, writhing in pain as Orochimaru slithered away.

"Sasuke will come to me..." He hissed softly as he vanished.

"Sasuke..." Sakura cried, then looking at Naruto and sobbing harder. "Naruto..."

Sasuke tried to look at Sakura, but all he managed to do was reach for her. Sakura kneeled by him, shifting his head into her lap and running a hand through your hair. She bit her lip and reached into her kunai pouch, watching as Sasuke struggled to contain his screams of pain. She pulled out a kunai and slammed the butt into his temple, rendering him unconscious.

She sobbed into her hands, glancing between her teammates.

"I'm sorry Sakura." Kana mumbled, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "But do you remember what I told you?"

"About what?" She asked.

"Strength has many different forms, and right now, you have to be strong for Naruto and Sasuke." Kana smiled. "But you won't be alone."

"We'll tag along as extra protection," Azumi said. "We still have four days to complete the exam after all."

"We also need to look after Kaneki, so we might as well join forces." Haku added.

"Thanks guys." Sakura said, rubbing her palms against her wet eyes.

~~~~~

For the next couple of days they hid out in a hollowed out tree, taking turns sleeping, checking their traps, walking the border of their camp, and tending to Naruto and Sasuke. Kaneki was already pretty much back to normal in a day, minus the fact that he was a little slower than usual.

"When do you think they'll wake up?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"I don't know..." Azumi sighed with a shrug.

"I'm sure it'll be soon." Haku smiled, patting her back. "Now get some rest, you haven't slept since yesterday."

Sakura smiled back with her tired emerald eyes, curling up on the ground in between Sasuke and Naruto. She propped her head up with her backpack.

~~~~~

"How are you doing?" Kana asked Kaneki, walking along the camp borders.

"I'm fine," He replied. "I'm more worried about Blondie."

"Yeah, me too." She mumbled.

"Let's just hope that his body doesn't reject the new organ tissue." Kaneki sighed.

"I'm more worried about his mental state." Kana frowned. "Will he be able to adjust? Or would it have been better if we let him die?"

"Adjusting is difficult, but not impossible." Kaneki said.

A moment of comfortable silence passed over the two.

"Kaneki? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." He replied.

"How long have you been like this?" Kana asked.

Kaneki winced, clenching his eyes shut for a moment.

"I'm not all that sure..." He replied. "But I've been like this for a while. And what about you?"

"As long as I can remember." Kana smiled sadly.

"Wow, me and Rize go back quite a ways, but not that long." Kaneki mused in awe. "So who are they? What are they called?"

"They?" Kana asked. "What they?"

"The ghoul that talks to you," He replied. "We're half ghouls, so we have a piece of someone else in us, along with their spirit."

"I've never really realized there was someone else." Kana mumbled. "I just thought it was just my head whispering things into my ear."

Kaneki was quiet for a moment. "Just wait for them to tell you their name."

Silently, he walked back to camp, leaving her alone. Kana shut her eyes, waiting for anything to happen. She held her breath, thinking it would help her focus. Everything was quiet for a moment until she heard it- no, him.

"Shin."

Kana smiled, then opening her mouth to speak. "Nice to meet you, I'm Kana."

A/N

I can honestly say that this chapter has been one of my favourite to write! So many emotions and character interactions! What do you guys think of ghoul Naruto? Will he survive? Will he be the same? You'll just have to wait and see!

(P.s: for any of you readers worried about me updating twice in one day, don't be. I just had a lot of spare time today and a lot of inspiration! I will probably go back and edit later, but feel free to point out grammar errors and mistakes, that makes it easier for me to edit later! Thanks guys!)

(P.p.s: this is like 1500 words, so it's like almost a chapter and a half's worth of text, so I hope you enjoyed the longer chapter.)