Chapter 27: A Broken Heart

Naruto stared at the house in front of him, or rather the people in it.

There were a few children in the house, who were playing with each other, and were enjoying their innocent childhood.

It was morning, and the sun had rose up in the sky, and its shiny rays were falling on Naruto's battered and tired body. He had reached his destination, but he was tired, and he knew anytime he was going to collapse from exhaustion.

He remembered that today was the day, when Hiruzen was going to declare him a traitor and a S-ranked missing nin.

A tired sigh escaped from Naruto's lips, but his lonely eyes were still set on the children in the house.

He idly wondered if he could have had such a childhood, if his parents were alive?

That certainly appeared to be a good life, then the one he was currently living. Hearing the laughter of the children brought painful memories of the past, and he saw reflections of some of his childhood friends, who were no longer with him.

Why was he the only one? Why did he survive when so many of his friends died in the training of Root Camp?

Their screams still rang in his mind, and everyday he lived with these horrible memories. For the people around him, he never showed how he truly felt, not even Kurenai knew about the loneliness in his heart.

If he had just died during training, then all of this would not have happened...and perhaps he would not have to live in such a hell.

But he survived, he lived every damn time, when the people around him fell, and this was the price he was paying for surviving in this cruel shinobi world.

"You are still the same lonely kid, Naru-chan," said a soft feminine voice

A small tiny smile came on Naruto's lips, he had finally found her, the only person who completely understood him, all his sadness, his misery, his guilt...and the pain in his heart.

Turning around he saw a woman standing behind him.

She had a a very cute angular face, shoulder length black hair, and coif light colored eyes that showed the kindness in her heart; she was wearing a black, loose-fitting gown with a white apron over it with sandals.

The woman looked to be in her mid-thirties but Naruto could still feel the power that was radiating from her body.

She definitely was a strong ninja.

Looking at her brought a few tears in his eyes, it had been such a long time since he had seen her.

"Nono-sensei..." said Naruto happily

But suddenly his legs felt wobbly and he started falling towards the ground; but felt a pair of soft hands embrace him gently.

"Sensei-" said Naruto tiredly, he wanted to talk to her but his eyes were closing and he knew he was going to fall unconscious.

The last thing he heard before sleep overtook him, brought a small smile on his face.

"Shhhhh...you're finally home, my Naru-chan,"

(Few Hours Later)

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, everything was looking very blurry and there was a constant pain in his eyes. He slowly rubbed his eyes for a few moments, and again opened them.

This time his vision cleared a little, it was not much but something was better than nothing.

He looked around and saw he was in a small room, his shinobi gear was lying neatly on a small table in front of him. His sword was cleaned of all the blood, and his clothes were drying up in the balcony.

The room was small, but the bed was so soft and warm.

He looked at his body, and realized he was heavily bandaged and majority of his wounds were healed, and he was lying on the bed in his boxers.

Suddenly he started coughing violently, and a few drops of blood came out his mouth.

He heard hurried footsteps approaching his position, and before he realized it Nono was in front of him and had laid him on the bed again; her hands were glowing with green chakra and were focused on his chest; but Naruto never missed the worried look in her eyes.

The look which a mother gives to her child.

He tried to say something but she cut him off.

"Stay still and let me heal you first," said Nono firmly,

Naruto just nodded and looked up at the ceiling of the room while Nono healed him with her medical ninjutsu. His eyes closed for a second, but flashes of the horrible night came in his mind and his eyes opened immediately

Nono was looking at him with a sad look on her face, she knew what he was going through.

She had seen many war veterans, and the horrors which they had seen had broken them, and right now Naruto was such a broken person.

Nono put a hand on his face and caressed his cheeks affectionately.

She had once been a part of Root Anbu black ops, she had spent her youth protecting Konoha by doing various blacks ops missions, but she had started to get tired.

Nono was really against Danzo's methods of training young children in such horrible ways. But her protests were always cast aside, in the name of "Konoha's future needs sacrifices", she hated that bullshit agenda of Danzo.

Then Naruto came in her life.

The boy was unique, he was powerful but he showed her something which she had forgotten due to her service in Root.

She was tasked with training him in infiltration and medical ninjutsu by Danzo, Naruto was a bright student but most of all he showed her that she was still human,

Nono grew closer to the boy with each passing day, he was such a lively kid back then, always having a smile on his face, helping his friends, and never giving up no matter what the odds were.

She watched him grow from a lovely child to a cold blooded assasin, she knew a part of Naruto's soul was destroyed when his friend Shin died, whom he loved as a brother.

But despite all of this, he never forgot her, and as soon as he became a Root Anbu captain, he immediately threatened Danzo to discharge her from service, he knew she was tired of Root, and wanted to live a peaceful life and take care of some orphan children.

He fought tooth and nail for her, and ultimately Danzo had to agree to Naruto's demands, as the boy was more beneficial to his cause more than Nono, and thought of it as an opportunity of making the boy more loyal to him.

But none of that mattered to Nono, the fact that Naruto rescued her from that hell, and helped her set up her orphanage was more than what she ever expected from him. He kept her hidden from Danzo all these years, as both of them knew that Danzo never allowed loose ends.

From time to time, he provided her financial aid in running her small orphanage. She had told him, she could manage, but he always said that he wanted to help and maybe this way he could atone for his sins.

Nono really felt sorry, she didn't know what hell Naruto must have gone through after she had left. Many of the boy's friends died in training, and she had seen the despair the boy felt, but she still had some hope left as Naruto had one close friend, what was his name?

"Sai...yes, that was his name," thought Nono

But looking at the now completely broken Naruto, made her realize something terrible must have happened; or else Naruto must not be in such a bad condition, both physically and mentally.

The young blonde boy took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down, she was still amazed by the endurance capacity of Naruto.

"Its...good to see you Nono-sensei," said Naruto with a small smile

Nono looked at him briefly, his smile was true but the grief in his eyes never went unnoticed by her veteran eyes.

"Its good to see you too, Naru-chan...but why are you in such a bad shape?" asked Nono worriedly, she wanted to ask him this question since the beggining.

She was horrified by the condition his body was in, there were wounds all over his body, but most of all he had severe internal wounds. She had checked him, and found out that some type of poison or virus was spreading through his body and had almost destroyed 30% of his cells, and was still causing damage at an alarming rate.

At this speed, the virus would kill Naruto in a few months, if he was not an Uzumaki he would have been dead by now.

His sharingan eyes were badly damaged and had lost a lot of his eyesight. Had he overused his Mangekyo?

She knew he had awakened the Mangekyo after his death match with Shin, Naruto never hid anything from her...and she really wished to help him.

"I can't tell you that...its classified," said Naruto sadly, and averted his eyes from her

"Another black ops mission...why can't they let him live in peace?" thought Nono angrily,

"I understand...and I won't ask you what your mission is, I know how these things work...and its better if I don't know. But remember this, I'm always here for you," said Nono kindly

Naruto gave a grateful smile to the woman, she really knew him better than anyone.

"Thank you...sensei," said Naruto with a smile

A silence followed between the pair, as both of them just looked at each other, it had been a long time since they had seen each other.

"How have you been?" asked Naruto softly

"Better, the orphanage is running very well, thanks to you. The kids really make my life more happy," said Nono with a small smile

A small smile came on Naruto's face, he was glad that he was at least able to help his the woman who was the closest thing he had as a mother.

"I'm glad you are doing well, the kids really can be a handful sometimes," said Naruto with a chuckle

"You don't say," said Nono with a smile, as she remembered some of Naruto's pranks.

"Are things well in Root? How is Sai?" asked Nono curiously

But one look in his eyes made her realize, that she shouldn't have asked this. The dead look in his eyes, and the sadness in them showed her things were not well, and something must have happened to Sai.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have asked this," said Nono apologetically

"Its not your fault...Sensei, I need your help," said Naruto hesitantly

Nono looked at the boy closely, he was definitely hiding something big...but she wanted to help him no matter what.

"I'm doing something dangerous...and I'm in deep shit. My body and my eyes have been badly damaged, can you do something to help me?...I understand if you don't-" said Naruto but was stopped when Nono looked at him sternly

"I don't care how much trouble you are in...you are a son which I never had, you stood beside me when I needed you the most. And I will do whatever it takes to help you," said Nono seriously, and Naruto gave her a thankful nod.

"How bad is it?" asked Naruto after a few moments

"Its very bad...I have started searching for a cure, but it will take time." said Nono truthfully

"And my eyes?" asked Naruto curiously

"They have been badly damaged too, your vision has been affected badly...and why the hell do you have a Mangekyo Sharingan in a jar?" asked Nono seriously

Naruto looked at her like a child who was caught stealing candy.

"Well...I kinda borrowed it," said Naruto sheepishly

"Excuse me?" asked Nono with narrowed eyes,

"I have overused my Mangekyo Sharingan, and so I looked into the Uchiha's clan's records for a cure...and it said if a Mangekyo is overused the user would go blind," said Naruto truthfully

"What?" asked Nono in shock,

But before she could go further in shock, and start scolding him, Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and told her to calm down.

"But if I implant another Mangekyo Sharingan in my eyes...then I would gain the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan(EMS), which would never allow me to go blind...please believe in me," requested Naruto politely

"Moron...why do you always get yourself in trouble?" asked Nono tiredly

"I don't know..." said Naruto honestly

"(sigh) I will study the Mangekyo you brought and see what I can do..." said Nono seriously

Naruto felt a little happy, maybe this was what a mother truly was?

"Thank you, Kaa-chan," said Naruto subconsciously, he didn't realized what he just said, the words just came out of his mouth.

He looked up and saw Nono having a small smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" said Naruto hurriedly, but was stopped when Nono put a hand on his mouth.

"Its alright...you are my child too." said Nono lovingly

A small tear came in Nartuo's eyes and he wrapped his arms around Nono and hugged her tightly. He needed her, when he was with her he could forget about the terrifying memories.

Even Kurama was grateful that this woman was there to support Naruto in this desperate time, as he saw her hugging him tightly and whispering comforting words in his ears.

Naruto's true feelings started to surface, as the pain became unbearable and he cried more in the woman's arms.

Nono didn't know what had happened that had broken her son in such a manner, she knew no matter what happened Naruto never broke down.

She would find out the truth,

"I swear I'll protect you, no matter what!" thought Nono with determination

She felt Naruto's sobs decrease, and gently laid him on the bed, he was soon going to fall asleep.

"Your wounds have not healed...you should rest. Sleep peacefully for a few hours," said Nono warmly

She then gave a short kiss on his forehead, and got up to leave.

But she was stopped as Naruto gently grabbed her hand, she turned around and saw him giving her a pleading look.

"Can you..." said Naruto hesitantly

"What is it, Naru-chan?" asked Nono gently, but she had a feeling what he was gonna ask.

"Can you stay with me...I can't sleep," said Naruto sadly

Nono gave him a motherly smile, and got in the bed. She gently laid beside him, and put his head on her shoulders.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, he was holding on to her like she was his lifeline; maybe the nightmares won't come if she was with him?

His eyes started closing and he gently pressed his head more closer to her shoulder.

"Thank you," said Naruto slowly, and then he fell asleep.

But he did not notice the tears flowing from Nono's eyes, she looked at Naruto and her heart broke when she saw him in such a state. He looked so weak, so vulnerable.

What had those bastards done to him?

"I love you too, Naru-chan," said a tearful Nono, and kissed Naruto's head.

Both of them then fell asleep, not knowing what the future had in store for them,

(Unknown Location)

In a small dark room, sat a person in a calm meditative pose.

He was wearing Anbu uniform, and his face was covered by a black wolf mask. There was a fine sword strapped on his back, he was wearing arm guards and there were fine black combat boots on his feet.

He had a well toned body, with the proper muscles that showed he was a ninja.

His black hair were clearly tied in a small ponytail.

There was a puff of smoke in the room, and a small hawk with golden eyes appeared in front of the Anbu, it had a small scroll strapped on its back.

The Anbu slowly took the scroll from the bird's back, and performed a few hand seals with greap speed and swiped his blood across the scroll.

The scroll opened and the Anbu then started reading the message which was sent from his leader.

His eyes widened a little, when he read the details of his mission, and the task he was assigned by the Hokage.

The black wolf masked Anbu then slowly burned the scroll away as he completed reading the order, and slowly got up to reach his destination.

"Captain Naruto...I look forward to meeting you,"