The entire hospital was alive with people running from room to room. Since the attack on Konoha had finally ceased, the wounded being brought in slowed to a trickle, though there were still many to care for. Aoi sat on a chair in an overcrowded waiting room, along with several others that didn't have life threatening injuries. As it neared the end of the day, the frantic chaos began to die down. People were settled into rooms after surgeries, three or four patients put into rooms that usually held only two. Gurneys were wheeled into the waiting room for the overflow to sleep on.

As most people around him settled onto gurneys to sleep for the night or received care and went home sporting injuries, Aoi sat there and slowly relaxed into the chair. Nurses and doctors still flitted in and out of rooms, but in all the atmosphere was more relaxed. Just as Aoi's eyelids were about to close and allow him to drift off to sleep, someone shook his shoulder.

"Excuse me, sorry for waking you." A doctor smiled down at the blue haired boy, who's eyes had now widened to show he was fully awake. Or at least awake enough to comprehend whatever the doctor might tell him. "There is an extra cot, if you would like to take it." Aoi simply shook his head, and the doctor looked at him oddly. "Any reason why?"

"My tendon has torn, I can not walk to the cot. I am fine to sleep here tonight." The odd look didn't disappear from the doctor's face as he regarded Aoi.

"I can help you to the cot if you would like. If you had informed us sooner, we would have helped you then." The doctor held out a hand to help Aoi from his seat.

Aoi took the hand and the doctor hefted him, supporting Aoi before he could even totter on his foot. "I will remember that in the future." The two remained silent as Aoi was supported to the cot near the edge of the room. Gently, the doctor lowered Aoi onto the thin mattress, which though not very soft, was a better arrangement than a chair.

"Hopefully there isn't a time in the future where you'll need to remember that." The doctor smiled, though bags could be seen under his eyes from the stress he was sure to be under. Aoi simply nodded. "We'll see what we can do about that tendon in the morning, but be sure to stay off it. If you need anything just call out and a nurse should come." The man walked away, a nonchalant wave over his shoulder being the last action Aoi could see him do. This time when Aoi fell asleep, nobody disturbed him.

_+_

The sound of clattering wheels, footsteps, and machines whirring were the sounds that woke Aoi. That, and the fact that he was being moved. When Aoi's eyes flew open, it took no more than three seconds to ascertain that he was being wheeled by a nurse. A warm smile creased her face as the nurse looked down at Aoi and saw he was awake.

"Don't worry, I'm just moving you into a room. A few freed up last night, so we're moving those that have more serious injuries." Aoi stared at her a moment then nodded. He let his head fall back to rest on the pillow and stared at the ceiling as they passed under it, not much caring what was happening at the moment. They stopped and a door slid open. Aoi was pushed into the room, and once the nurse left he sat up.

He looked around the room, one that was clearly only supposed to house one person, and noticed two more cots in the room. Looking at the occupants, Aoi made out a shock of somewhat neat black hair and a mussy blond head of hair in the next. Aoi focused his eyes more, then realized why the occupants of the beds seemed so familiar. It was Naruto and Sasuke. Scrapes and bruises covered their arms and faces, but other than that any major injuries the two might have had were healed. As Aoi sat there, a dull pain throbbed in his leg. Poking it a little, Aoi stopped when the pain intensified.

There was a stirring in the next bed, and Aoi's attention turned to the noise. Sasuke turned onto his back and blinked a few times at the ceiling, seemingly confused. Memories washed over him, and Sasuke relaxed slightly. He felt a gaze, and Sasuke looked over to meet Aoi's blank gaze. The two just stared at each other for a moment before they both nodded and their stares broke. Sasuke leaned back down, and Aoi did likewise. Everything was silent for a while.

"Raaaameeen~" Naruto was obviously still asleep, but his mouth hung open and drool escaped from it as he dreamt of his favorite food. Both heads turned toward the blond, regarding him. One gaze was apathetic, but the other held slight annoyance at not being able to fall back asleep. Just as the latter of the two was about to lower himself to his pillow once again, Naruto's voice rang out again. "Nooo~" There was a frown on Naruto's face, but it soon cleared. "Sakura-chan!" There was incoherent mumbling after this exclamation.

As if on cue, the door slid open and the pink haired girl stood in the doorway, Kakashi could be seen in the background, face shoved into a book. Almost knowing what Naruto was mumbling about, Sakura strode into the room. She stole Aoi's pillow, and promptly threw it into Naruto's face. A faint "Flegh" was heard and Naruto quickly sat up. Unusually however, Sakura wasn't at the foot of Sasuke's bed making a big deal over him. Sakura and Kakashi stood off to the side, the younger fidgeting and the older finally putting his book down. Naruto's protests were cut short as he sensed the atmosphere of the other two.

"Wh-Whats up Kakashi-sensei? Sakura?" Naruto looked between the two nervously, Sasuke leaned in slightly, Aoi sat there but a brief light flickered in his eyes.

Kakashi spoke without preamble. "The third Hokage is dead." Reactions ranged from jumping up and shaking Kakashi and just blinking. Sasuke looked down at his hands, which were clenched around the sheets of his bed. Sakura came up and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, but when her worried gaze was met with a glare she backed away from him slightly. Her hand remained slightly outstretched, but eventually fell back to her side.

Explanations rang through the air at Naruto's and Sasuke's questions, but eventually the five were interrupted by a nurse. Seeing the solemn faces, she fidgeted a little. "Sorry for the interruption. We wanted to examine the patients to see if they could be released from the hospital."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. "Sakura, let's wait in the hallway until the nurse is done." The female nodded, her short hair falling loosely into her face. The door slid shut, and the nurse made her way over to Naruto first. After a bit of examination and prodding, she decided he was well enough to leave. The story repeated itself with Sasuke.

The nurse came up to Aoi. "If you could roll over onto your stomach, I'll take a look and see how bad your leg is." Aoi complied, and lay there letting the nurse poke and prod his leg. Naruto and Sasuke hovered nearby, curious as to their former teammate's condition. Her touch was gentle as the nurse lifted the foot. She squeezed lightly on the back of the calf, and when nothing happened a worried look came over her face. Moving her hand's position, she tried again with the same result. Lowering the foot, she peeled off the few bandages that had been wrapped around Aoi's ankle.

"I'm sorry if this hurts any." Aoi simply nodded. The nurse began to look into Aoi's wound, and Naruto turned away a sickly green color. After a while, the nurse rebound the wound and Aoi rolled back onto his back so he could look the woman in the eye. "Do you mind if they hear?" Aoi shook his head. "Alright then. Your tendon is completely torn. Because you were trying to use your leg at the time, the muscle has bunched up in your upper thigh. The best way to fix this is a simple surgery.

"We cut open your leg to gain access to the tendon. From there we stretch it so the two ends meet. After that we remove scar tissue, sew the two ends of the tendon together, wrap a bit of biodegradable material around it for support, then sew the leg back up. Though a relatively simple procedure, the time it takes to heal it is rather long. It will be a good two months or more before you can start to put any weight on your leg again. Once you can put weight on it, it will be another year or so of rebuilding the connection and muscle strength." The nurse looked directly into Aoi's eyes. "This means that for nearing a year and a half, there is no way for you to go on missions as a shinobi."

Aoi nodded his understanding. Naruto was silent in shock and even Sasuke's eyes were wide at the news. The nurse noticed no real change in Aoi's demeanor at the news, so she went on. "We would be able to do the surgery right away in normal times, but we've almost run out of anesthetics. We're saving the remainder for life threatening surgeries, so I can't get you in to a surgery. You could have the surgery without being put under, but it would be painful and the best we could do is give you some medication to dull the pain."

"I am willing to do that." Aoi spoke, answering the nurses unspoken question. The nurses eyes widened.

"Are you sure? Though it will dull it, the pain will still be very severe." Aoi simply nodded. Without anything more to say the nurse stood there. "I suppose I'll see about that surgery, and try to get it scheduled for today. The sooner the better with an injury like this I suppose." The nurse turned when Aoi nodded yet again in confirmation. "As for you two, follow me and we'll get you checked out of the hospital." The three left, and nobody reentered the room until it was time for Aoi's surgery.

_+_

The door slammed open, and the occupants of the room all jumped in surprise. A figure entered the room, marching up to the desk where they knew they could get information. Two figures trailed behind the one leading the way, slightly exasperated at their companion's antics. When they reached the desk, the demeanor of the lead figure changed completely. "Hi!" Kaori smiled winningly at the nurse that sat behind piles of paperwork and clipboards. "I was wondering if you knew where Aoi was? He has blue hair, about my age, and doesn't talk a whole lot."

Smiling slightly the woman nodded. "I think he just got out of surgery. His team is already with him, up in room 215." Kaori's smile widened. "Oh, before you go up, could you sign in though? There should be an empty slot somewhere on that clipboard." A faint wave of the hand directed Kaori's attention to a blue clipboard. She picked it up and the nurse went back to sorting through papers. Flipping through the pages, it took quite a while before Kaori reached one that didn't have a name on every slot. She filled out the information, then set the clipboard down on the counter where she had found it.

Not bothering about being quiet, Kaori slammed the door to Aoi's room open as well, causing quite a few people to jump. The two people that shared Aoi's room didn't react, mostly because they were both unconscious having gotten out of their own surgeries. Kaori strode over to Aoi. "You didn't tell me you were going to have a surgery." She pointed accusingly at the blue haired boy, who stared straight into her eyes.

"Should I have informed you?" Aoi tilted his head to the side slightly. Kaori sweatdropped slightly, but held her slight anger.

"Of course!" It wasn't quite a shout, but her voice became sterner. "You should always tell your friends about things going on in your life. It's a matter of trust. If you don't tell them they feel betrayed. You should always tell someone about a plan right? This is no different."

Aoi looked at her a moment before nodding. "I had a surgery an hour ago Kaori, Ryo, and Kodomo." This time everyone in the room visibly sweatdropped.

"Anyways, how much longer do you have to stay in the hospital Aoi?" Kodomo looked at the boy awaiting his answer.

"I will be here for two more days." Everyone nodded. A few faces fell as the thought that Aoi wouldn't be at the Hokage's funeral struck them. The faces soon lost the sombre look as they tried their best to push the thoughts from their minds.

The teens continued to chat for a while, quietly, until visiting hours ended. Eventually everyone drifted out and to their homes, preparing for the funeral that would be the next day. That day was dark and dreary, rain pouring down upon the village as it mourned the passing of its leader. Aoi was released from the hospital no problem, leaving with a cast to support his leg and a pair of crutches. His foot healed slowly for the next month, but time passed quickly as he did odd jobs around the village.

Then the next Hokage was instated, Tsunade, the granddaughter of the first Hokage. One of her first actions was to read the files on her shinobi. When she read over Aoi's file, she immediately called him into her office.

Aoi hobbled up the stairs, accustomed to the uselessness of his leg. When he got to the top, he paused as yelling was heard on the other side of the door. Pausing slightly, his eyes widened minimally as moments after the shouting ended a team of shinobi ran past him, not even taking notice of Aoi. The doors swung shut.

Striding, or as close as he could get to the action, to the door, Aoi raised his fist and rapped lightly on the door. A stern greeting sounded, granting Aoi permission to enter.

Tsunade leaned forward and studied the boy before her for a moment before speaking. "So you're Aoi?" Instead of speaking, Aoi just bowed his head in a sign of respect and agreement to the question. "I've read your file. Aoi, no surname, male, age is 15 years old. Chunnin. Fire and water chakra nature, knows wind jutsu as well. Only been in the village close to a year and a half, before that however." She lowered the papers she had been reading off of. "he was an experiment of Orochimaru." Aoi said nothing.

"Seems like we need to discuss some things." Tsunade stood and motioned for Aoi to follow her. They stepped out into the hall and walked until they came to a door. Entering, Aoi noticed it was a private office. Shelves lined the walls, filled with files and books, most likely on different shinobi and jutsu. Once Aoi was in the room, the door shut and locked. "Now that we're away from prying eyes and ears," Tsunade sat down and motioned for Aoi to do likewise, which he did. "Why don't you fill me in on your past? I've read the file, but I want to hear it from you."

Aoi took a moment, seemingly to gather his thoughts, then nodded. He related the entire tale to her in a somewhat monotone voice, and she listened in silence. When he was finally done, she leaned back in her chair slightly to think over things.

"So you're Ibiki's student right now?" Aoi nodded. "I can see how that would be a good arrangement..." She seemed to be contemplating whether or not she should say what was on her mind. "Since you're a chunnin you are a great asset to the village, but due to your injury you can't necessarily be going on missions." Again, Aoi simply nodded. "I have a special assignment for you. In addition to your training with Ibiki, you will be an instructor at the academy."

_+_

More or less just a transition chapter into a few more things. The book is wrapping up though, so I'll let you know if there is a sequal, or if I'll just continue writing in this book. I know this chapter was pretty boring though, I just wanted to get everything out of the way, even if it felt rushed. I didn't plan anything to really happen between Orochimaru's attack and Tsunade, so I didn't put anything. Rest assured though, it is about to get more interesting... for the most part... I feel devious for what my brain has planned...

In case you were wondering about the... song to the side, let's just say I have very fun friends... Dedication to NightmareFox for the riddle last time!

Anyways, school is almost over, and so are finals. I got a bit of a breather in english today, so I wrote this chapter out. Then I got home, then I typed it. End of story. If I get a chance in some of my classes, like biology or something, then I'll write out another chapter. I'll try for next weekend, but I dunno. So, as my favorite comedian used to say, time for the comment question of the day, which is...

If you could chose the apocolypse of the world, what would it be?

Leave interesting or creative responses in the comment section below, or on facebook or twitter. Kidding about those last two, it just went with the whole =3 theme I was going with. So yeah. If you have an interesting question, or would rather solve riddles, let me know. For now though, I'm going to go study. I have a final in art, of all things. Hence the whole hating on art I've been doing for the last day or so. Adios, valete, god be with ye, hasta luego, sayonara, goodbye, or any other language you may know. Comment/vote/fan

-Nicky~