Alone
Chapter 5

“Glad to see you remember me.”

“Sensei!” Tsunade ran up to the robed man. He seemed to be very old with lines running down from his eyes. The robe he had on was white with a red garment underneath it. He also wore a white hat with the symbol for fire on it.

“I’m glad to see you; it’s been quite a while.”

“Yes it has.”

“Sorry, but before we catch up, I have some business to attend to.” The man’s face went form soft to stern, “Kakashi! Iruka! Who told you that you could just leave and not finish cleaning the city?!”

“Sorry Lord Hokage, but something came up…” Kakashi told the old man nervously.

“Really? Like what?”

“Well-” Iruka began.

“Follow me Sarutobi sensei. This is why they left.” Tsunade then lead him into the
child’s room. “If you want the whole story, ask Miki. As far as I know, these two brought him in after finding him in the snow, and they haven’t left him yet. Isn’t that right Miki?”

“Y-yes, that sounds about right.” Miki said as she entered the room.

The Hokage looked at the boy, then at the other men.

“How long was he out there?” The Hokage asked

“We aren’t sure, couldn’t have been for long. After all, once you have hypothermia, you can’t last long.” Miki told the three men and Tsunade.

“…”

“Is there something you want to say Iruka?” the Hokage inquired.

“Well, it’s just that I don’t think he was outside for just a short while…” Iruka said looking at the ground.

“What makes you say that?” Tsunade asked curiously.

“Well, when I found him, he was buried pretty deep in the snow…”

“Maybe some one threw it on him-”

“No, the snow was undisturbed, and there were no tracts leading to or from him.”  Iruka finally looked up at the boy, “He must have been there all night, and there was almost no snow under him and a lot of snow on top of him.”

“But, that’s impossible. All night? No one could survive that long in those temperatures. Unless he had on a heavy coat to keep him warm-” Tsunade didn’t have time to finish her thought when Iruka interrupted.

“He didn’t have a coat, all he had on was a pair of pants, shoes and a t-shirt. He must have left his coat at home, or maybe he lost it. I have no idea; all I know is that he didn’t have one on.”

“Then how did he survive that long in such cold temperatures?” Miki began.

“Kakashi, Iruka, Tsunade. The three of you come with me. Miki, can I ask you to stay with the boy and inform us immediately if his condition changes?”

“Of course!” Miki was surprised to be given such a direct order from the Hokage.

“Now if the three of you were to follow me, I have something important to tell you.” The Hokage, Tsunade, Kakashi and Iruka began to walk away.

“Umm… excuse me?”

“Yes Miki?” The Hokage looked back at the doctor.

“Where are you going?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. You job is here with the boy.”

“But…”

“Hmm?”

“How will I be able to inform you of any changes if I don’t know where you are?”

“…good point. We will be in my office.”

“You do know where that is, right?” Tsunade asked

“Yeah, I’m not that dumb…”

"Are you sure?" Tsunade asked with a slight grin on her face.

"YES!!" Miki practically yelled back at her teacher.

"If you say so..."

The four then left the room as Miki began to check his vital signs.

^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

“What did you want to tell us sensei?”

The three were inside the Hokage’s office all looking worried.

“Tell me, what do you know about Naruto?”

“Not much, he loves ramen, loves attention and I have to take him home on rainy days.” Iruka told the three in the room with him.

“Almost nothing, except I always see him walking around the city by himself.” Kakashi added.

“Nothing really, I have heard rumors that he is picked on a lot…” Tsunade told the others.

The Hokage looked at them, then down to his hands and back up to Kakashi, Iruka and Tsunade.

“That’s all? Well, let me tell you all I know about Naruto Uzumaki.”