Love Delayed
AN: This is the longest fic I've ever written. It's complete, and I'll be posting chapters as I finish editing them. Lots of warnings – violence, language, sexual situations, torture, mentions of abuse, and gay Iruka, but no yaoi. I'm really excited about this one, and I think it might be the best thing I've ever written. It's certainly my favorite. Pairings are Naruto/Hinata, Gai/OC, Asuma/Kurenai, and eventually Kakashi/Sakura and Ino/Choji. Also, a special Tsunade/Jiraiya romance toward the end, because that's my favorite pairing.
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Hatake Hurricane awoke from a 20 year nightmare to see a very confused looking Kakashi staring down at her. She was also facing a pink-haired girl with a large forehead.
"Kashi-kun?" She asked drowsily before settling back into her long sleep.
Sakura moved a worried Kakashi out of the way as she checked his sister for injuries.
"She seems to be healthy enough, but I'm worried about what Orochimaru's experiments may have done to her. She performed a few medical jutsus, but shook her head.
"This is way beyond me. I'll have to get Tsunade to come look at her when she's done with the actual injuries."
"Get me to look at what?" Tsunade asked as she entered the wrecked laboratory.
"It's Hurricane," Kakashi said, "but she won't wake up. I don't understand. All the other shinobies are awake and moving around."
Tsunade knelt to examine her, pressed some chakra into the kunoichi's chest and molded it to give the sleeping woman extra strength. She then carefully found the adrenal gland and stimulated it just enough to wake Hurricane. "I think she's been tampered with more than the other ninjas. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
Hurricane looked around her, frowned at the ninjas, and motioned with her fingers. "Release!" she said loudly. When the ninjas failed to dematerialize, she said wonderingly, "you're not a genjutsu?"
Kakashi grabbed his sister in a tight hug. "That's what I was just wondering about you." Sakura was surprised at her former teacher's affection for his sister. He was usually so cold and stand-offish.
How long have I been here?" Hurricane asked.
"About 20 years," Sakura said, watching to see how she would take the information. Some of the other ninjas had shown signs of mental instability, and a few had to be restrained after they attacked the Konoha ninjas who had saved them, believing it to be a trick of Orochimaru's.
"We think this was Orochimaru's largest lab," Tsunade said. "It was a real fight to take this place. I just wish we could have caught him too, but we only found his flunkies here."
"Kashi, is the baby ok?" she asked. "Did he make it through the battle?"
Kakashi took a moment to gather himself. A shinobi wasn't even supposed to show emotion, much less break down in front of a traumatized comrade. She needed him to be strong right now. He had to think of her as a Konoha ninja who needed his strength as a Jounin. "I'm sorry Hurricane, but he was stillborn."
Her reaction surprised everyone. Instead of showing her grief, her face hardened as her fists clenched at her side. "You're sure of that?" she asked.
"Hai," he said quietly. "I sat with the body."
"That bastard!" she hissed. "I'll kill him for this."
Tsunade was having serious doubts about this patient's mental condition. She would have to talk with Kakashi later about how to help his sister handle her grief without hurting herself, and she couldn't help but wonder who Hurricane wanted to kill.
"Tsunade-sama, we need you outside to..." Shizune stopped when she saw Hurricane.
She stood there with staring until Tsunade said, "well?" impatiently.
"I, um, some of the wounds are giving us trouble. They seem to have been infused with an odd poisoned chakra. I've never seen anything like it." She kept glancing at Hurricane, and her face was deathly pale.
When they left the cave, they were greeted by a battlefield that had been turned into a cross between a hospital and a giant series of family reunions. It seemed as if all of Konoha was there to welcome long missing family. Some of the relationships were obvious. Hyuugas and Aburames could never be mistaken for anyone else. She noticed there were no Uchihas, which was strange. She found herself looking among the others for her son, because she knew he was alive.
It was hopeless, because she had no idea what he would look like, but she couldn't help herself. Kakashi was helping other families, so she was left alone to watch. A deep emptiness filled her, and it wasn't until 15 minutes later that she realized she hadn't seen her husband. She was hardly surprised to find that she was glad he wasn't there. He probably wouldn't have escaped with his life if he had been present, after what he had done. She was called Hurricane for a reason, after all. She took a long time to anger, but when she did the storm she unleashed could wreck entire villages.
The people began to move toward Konoha, and that's when she noticed the boy by himself. While everyone else was with family members, he sat on a log the outside of the clearing. He had obviously been a part of the battle, and his bandaged face looked so sad her heart went out to him. She walked over to him, and she noticed that he was watching a tearful scene between a father and son.
She sat down next to him. "You look unhappy. Were you looking for someone?"
For a brief moment pain was in his eyes, and then he grinned broadly. "No. I was just thinking. It's a great day for Konoha. We've recovered over 100 of our best ninjas that were captured over the years by Orochimaru for his experiments. Konoha will be the strongest hidden village in the world now. Believe it!" He gave a goofy thumbs up sign.
His false bravado didn't fool her, but she knew kids needed their privacy. On closer inspection she could see that he wasn't a kid, but he sported such a lost child look that it was hard to think of him as a grown man.
"What about you?" he asked. "Are you alone?"
"No. My brother is helping villagers who need him." She gestured toward Kakashi, who was helping direct the mass of confused people.
"Kakashi-Sensei's your brother?" He asked.
She laughed. "He's a Sensei? Wow. I never thought I'd see the day." She held out a hand to him. "I'm Hatake Hurricane." She decided to keep her maiden name. She was done with her husband now.
"Uzumaki Naruto," the boy said proudly and shook her hand.
Kakashi was glad his sister had found Naruto. He had been too busy to say anything to his student, but he knew it must be hard for an orphan to see so many happy reunions. He had noticed that Naruto seemed understandably sensitive about his orphan status. Hurricane had lost her son, and Naruto had never had a family, as far as anyone knew. Not that many people cared, really. He hoped they could help each other while he fulfilled his Jounin duties.
The group moved slowly toward Konoha. What should have been a two day trip dragged on as the injured ninjas trudged onward. Even the medic nins were having trouble healing the odd wounds, which seemed to have been combined with a jutsu of some sort. They didn't heal right, and tended towards gangrene. When they stopped the first day, they sat up camp. Simple food was served, but Hurricane sat against a tree to get out of the massive group of people milling around the feeding stations. Large crowds made her claustrophobic, so she would rather just forage in the woods later for mushrooms.
Naruto sat down by her with two large bowls of rice. He handed her a bowl and some chopsticks. "Itsadikimasu!" he yelled happily before he tore into the rice with next to no table manners. Hurricane ate hers more thoughtfully. She noticed that Naruto's wounds were showing signs of infection. When she mentioned it to him, he shrugged it off. "All the wounds are like this. The medic nins will figure it out soon though." He looked over toward the pink-haired girl. "Sakura won't let us down."
"Naruto, some of my friends aren't here, and I was hoping you could tell me if they're still in the village." She didn't want to say "still alive", because there was one "friend" in particular she didn't think she could live without. Even though she'd been coerced into an arranged marriage, she only loved one man. It was one of the great tragedies of her life that her high sense of honor as well as his own way of the ninja prevented them from being married. They both agreed in their naïve youthful idealism that her marriage was the best for the village, and she remained faithful to the husband chosen for her.
As it was, her husband was friends with the man she loved, and they spent the better part of her adult life pretending not to love each other. When he came to visit, she would spend the entire visit trying not to wish he was her husband. But she remained faithful and even had her husband's baby, which was the only real reason he had wanted to marry her. She was a strong ninja from a strong family. He was more interested in her bloodline than in his wife. In fact, once she became pregnant he lost interest completely and absorbed himself so much in his work that she very rarely saw him.
When she complained he'd smile that charming smile of his and say, "being Hokage is so much work, and you're helping the village by helping me." He'd kiss her on the head like a child and leave to do more work. Somehow, he could always gently convince her that she was wrong, even though when he was gone his logic made no sense to her. She wondered if he used a mild genjutsu on her that made her believe him no matter no absurd his arguments.
Naruto said her husband had died fighting Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon. She felt no grief for him – only a sense of freedom. She couldn't get much else out of the distractible boy, but she did learn that Tsunade was Hokage now; that was a shock. She also found out that the man she loved most of all was alive and away on a mission. She brooded on the possibilities that presented. Was he married? If he wasn't married, could they finally be together? After awhile she became distracted by Naruto's antics as he chased the pink-haired woman around. Pink-hair seemed to view him as a semi-welcome nuisance, and Naruto completely missed the young Hyuuga lady that was watching him from behind a tree. Pink-hair did find an antidote for the poison, just as Naruto predicted. There was no helping the scarring, though. Because of the odd jutsu that had been used the scarring would be worse than normal, and Naruto would always be marked on his cheek where a shuriken had hit him.
When they returned to the village she used her considerable charm and her position as the fourth Hokage's widow to gain access to medical records from the night she had her baby. She was often seen around the hospital, asking questions and seeking out the nurses and medic-nins who had been in the village when the Kyuubi attacked. She wasn't getting very far, though. It turned out that they had almost all been at the front, frantically healing ninjas. Sometimes she would cross paths with Shizune, and Shizune would always turn pale and stammer before making a quick exit.
After a few weeks, she had to slow down her search because it was time to get back to missions. After all, she was a ninja, and her village still needed her. She would find out where her son was in time. She attended the special class for the newly returned ninjas on the history of Konoha from the time of the Kyuubi's attack, and then spent every available moment searching for evidence of her son's identity. She didn't know why her husband had hidden him away, but she would find her baby.
There weren't many of her friends left. Anko had grown sullen, dark, and anti-social. Rin was dead. She found a new friend in Iruka, who she found gentle and appealing. The two of them would sometimes meet with Naruto at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. They even began to have a sort of weekly ritual – "Ramen Mondays" Naruto called it – that became the best part of her week.
The boy seemed to have an endless appetite. After one ramen eating contest - which he won - he waited until Iruka excused himself to grade papers and said he'd walk her home. He was quiet most of the way, and then he suddenly asked her, "are you and Iruka Sensei dating?"
She turned beet red, of course. She liked Naruto, but he had a way of saying the most embarrassing things at times. He obviously didn't know that Iruka was gay, and she wasn't about to out her friend. And there were other reasons...
"No," she said. "He's just a good friend."
Naruto shuffled his feet a bit in the road dirt. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "It's just – well – Iruka Sensei's a nice person, and you're a nice person..." He trailed off, and she could tell he was having trouble expressing himself, which wasn't unusual. He wasn't stupid, but simple-minded would be a good description.
"What's on your mind Naruto?" she asked with as much patience as she could muster.
"People shouldn't have to be alone." He sounded like he was choking up a bit, but then he caught himself and smiled broadly. "Anyway, thanks for the ramen. Next Monday it's my treat! See ya." It was a trait of his to always force enthusiasm into a sad situation, and she suspected it was how he dealt with being an orphan.
On a whim she caught him as he was turning to leave and hugged him. "I'm not alone, Naruto-kun. I have you and Iruka and Kakashi." He looked a little happier. "You have us too, remember." She thought he looked more relaxed as he left. Poor boy.
She was almost done with her class, which meant she would be expected to resume missions soon. She was running out of time, and her search was hitting a dead end. All the evidence showed that her boy was stillborn. Of course, everyone had thought she was dead as well, just one more victim of the Kyuubi's attack that almost leveled the hospital. If she didn't have her own vivid memories of the birth, she wouldn't have believed that her son was alive.
Hurricane could tell that Tsunade thought she was in denial, but she didn't care. She remembered giving birth, and she distinctly remembered her husband holding the baby with a terribly sad look on his face. At the time, she wondered why he was at a birthing instead of outside fighting, but now it seemed even more mysterious. Why had he hidden their son's identity? He was such a strange man; there was no telling what was going on in that complex mind of his, but knowing him it probably had something to do with the "good of the village".
It was her misfortune to attract Ebisu's attention. It happened one Monday as she was having ramen with Iruka and Naruto. He stopped by the shop for ramen, and was entranced by the still beautiful woman. He slid next to her, bumping Iruka over rudely. "I haven't seen you around the village," he said. "I know. I would have remembered." He flashed his best smile at her, and the serving girl behind the counter promptly fainted.
"Very funny, Ebisu," she said. "Long time no see, huh?"
Naruto scowled at Ebisu, who ignored the youth. "The movie based on the Icha-Icha Paradise Book is coming out this weekend. Care to see it with me?"
"Thanks, but I'm actually pretty busy this weekend." She hoped to steer the conversation away from flirting. Even when she was married Ebisu had been hopelessly in love with her – or so he claimed. She suspected he was just bored; she wouldn't be surprised if flirting was how he killed time. He was a somewhat attractive man, but just having him pay such attention to her made her ache to see her love. Ebisu was a sad excuse for a man compared to the love of her life. When would he be done with his mission?
Ebisu couldn't take a hint, and the more she resisted his advances, the more he was attracted to her, just like old times. She noticed Naruto becoming more and more agitated. Iruka left early, knowing things would only get tenser if he stayed. He was beginning to feel jealous of Hurricane and wished Ebisu would notice him more.
Hurricane found herself genuinely liking the odd man. He just didn't have a chance with her because he'd come too late in her life. There was only room in her heart for one man. They bantered back and forth about the weather, missions, Konoha's new art museum, and whatever pointless things they thought of to chat about. Naruto was absolutely seething after about an hour.
Hurricane had been trying to politely end the conversation, and finally Ebisu seemed to realize that as unbelievable as it was, there was actually a woman who didn't want his spectacular self. As he stood to leave, he smiled a brilliant smile and bowed slightly. "It was nice to talk with you. I hope we see each other again soon." He took her hand and kissed it gallantly. "You grace Konoha with your presence."
Suddenly, Ebisu found himself flying backward with an angry Naruto between himself and a stunned Hurricane. "Leave my mom alone, you pervy jerk!" he yelled, and then stopped as he realized what he had said. He turned red, and stammered, "I'm sorry." He left the ramen shop quickly. Naruto bumped into Shizune on the way out, who was passing by and had seen everything. Ebisu started to go after his former student.
Hurricane stopped him. "Let me. I might know what's wrong." When she got to his apartment, she knocked but there was no answer. She tried the door, and finding it unlocked entered his hovel. She found him at his kitchen table surrounded by filth and bugs. His head was on the table and he was sobbing loudly. When he noticed her, he sat up and wiped his nose on his sleeve. She grimaced and found a semi-clean towel for him.
"Do you want to tell me what all that was about?"
"I'm sorry. It's just sometimes I like to imagine that you and Iruka Sensei..." he blew his nose loudly.
"Are your parents?" she finished softly.
He nodded. "I know it's stupid, but Kakashi Sensei told me your baby was born the same night I was, and sometimes when I'm lonely I just like to imagine that I have parents."
Could that be the missing part of her investigations? She hadn't checked to see which babies were born the same night as her own. That meant that Naruto or any of the other children his age in the village could actually be hers if they were switched at birth.
Just then Hurricane heard a tentative knock and opened to door to find a tearful Shizune. She came in and stood uncertainly at the door.
"Shizune?" Naruto asked, wiping his eyes. "What's wrong?"
She sat down across from Naruto. "I'm so sorry; I should have said something earlier, but I didn't know how. I was frightened."
"Said something about what?" Hurricane asked. Her heart raced. Surely this couldn't mean what she was thinking. It was best not to hope too soon.
"Naruto, it's time that you knew this. Hatake Hurricane and the fourth Hokage are your parents. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you."
Naruto, of course, was thoroughly shocked. Hurricane however thought that the pieces fit together. He even looked like Minato.
"Naruto, are you ok?" Hurricane asked. He laughed and jumped up to hug her, overturning a chair and a day old bowl of half-eaten ramen. "Ok? This is the best day of my life! Believe it!"
As she was holding him, she looked at Shizune over his shoulder. "You have some explaining to do."
"I didn't want to do it; he made me. I was so young, and I didn't know any better. He kept talking about the good of the village and it made sense at the time."
"Yeah, he could do that," Hurricane said.
"There were two births that night, yours and some prostitute's. We don't even know her name, but when she and her baby both died during the attack, the Fourth switched the babies."
"That crazy!" Naruto said. "Why would anyone do that?"
"Because he knew no one would let him sacrifice his son, but no one would care about some whore's whelp. There's a reason Tsunade-sama is called Princess Tsunade."
Naruto gave her a blank confused look.
"You're a son of a Hokage, which makes you Prince Naruto. No one would let a prince be sacrificed. There were complications; your mom was dying. I don't know how she lived; it must have been that medic-nin Orochimaru
carries around."
"Woah!" Hurricane interrupted. "What's this about him being sacrificed? I've never heard this before."
Naruto lifted his shirt to show her the seal on his stomach. "He sealed the Kyuubi in me. It was the only way to stop him."
"That bastard!" she said, and smashed Naruto's wobbly table into splinters with one fist blow. Shizune flinched, sure that she would be next.
"It's not your fault," Hurricane said. "He probably used a genjutsu on you. I can't believe he'd sink so low. Why didn't you tell Naruto later, though?"
"He made me promise to keep it a secret. I just couldn't do it any longer."
Kakashi was incredibly surprised to find his sister banging on his door at 1:00 A.M. "Wha? Hnnn," he muttered, rubbing his masked face. After she had a long visit with a shocked new uncle to get more of Naruto's history, she returned to Naruto's shack of an apartment. She found him asleep, so she bedded down on the couch. Hurricane had a feeling he'd feel better if she was there when he awoke.
When Naruto woke up, he wandered into the "living room", which was really just a spot for a small couch in his one-room utility apartment. He looked between Hurricane and his shattered table, then back to Hurricane, and then back at the table.
"It's not a dream?" he asked himself. "It's not a dream," he said as reality began to set in. "It's not a dream!" he yelled, waking Hurricane and dancing around the cramped space. She promptly fell off the couch and cursed her offspring.
"Sorry okaa-san," he sang happily, and went to make breakfast. It wasn't an easy matter though. Hurricane went to help him and found to her dismay that the oven and stovetop were both broken, and he owned no microwave. It seemed that his only way to cook was a small camp stove that he kept on a broken counter. Even worse, the only things to eat in the apartment were ramen and cereal.
"You've got to eat some fruit and vegetables, Naruto."
"You sound like Kakashi-Sensei," he growled. "I hate that stuff."
"Kakashi took care of you then?" she asked hopefully. She would have to remember to thank him. She was glad someone had cared for him, at least.
"He tried to make me eat fruit and cabbage, if that's what you mean."
"We really need to straighten things out around here, but first things first. What level missions do you get?"
"Mostly C-Rank, but sometimes I get B-ranks, and once or twice I've gotten an A-Rank. I had an S-rank once, but that was an accident."
"Even with C-Rank missions you should be able to live better than this. We've got to find you a better apartment."
Naruto fidgeted. "Everyone overcharges me. I pay five times too much for this place, and for my food, and the landlord won't fix anything. It's because of the Kyuubi."
"I don't understand," she said.
"They just see the fox demon when they see me, and all they think about is how their family died from him. Some of them think I actually am the Kyuubi."
"Fools," Hurricane said. "They're superstitious fools, all of them. Well, we'll find a place together, and I'd like to see them try to overcharge me."
"We're going to live together?" Naruto asked. "Really?"
"Of course, Naruto. I'm your mother, silly. You're going to have to learn to clean, though."
"Could Iruka Sensei...?"
"Naruto, we've been through this. I don't love Iruka."
He grinned. "You can't blame me for trying."
Between her missions and trying to keep up with Naruto, the next couple months were a blur. She was getting B-class mission and an occasional A-class, but she still had to do guard duty like everyone else. It was one dull summer day four months after her arrival in Konoha that she saw him, walking tiredly toward the village with three younger ninja. He was finally returning from his long mission. Her mouth went dry. Would he even recognize her after all this time? Would he even care? She arranged her hair self-consciously as he approached; he was chatting with one of the younger ninjas who looked just like him. Her heart sank. That must be his son; he was married. The fates had conspired against her. They must hate her personally.
As they reached the gates, he turned to the guards on duty and froze when he saw her in her Jounin vest. "Hurr – hurricane?" he asked before he fainted, which was completely understandable. He had just seen a ghost after all.
"Gai-Sensei!" Lee yelled. "Wake up! This is not youthful!"
Hurricane breathed a sigh of relief. The boy had called him Sensei and not otou-san. She felt frozen to the spot with anticipation.
Gai woke and sat up. Everyone waited for the expected youthful remarks, but instead he simply sat in the dust, silent and staring. Neji and Tenten would later say it was the only time in their relationship with their Sensei that he was speechless.
Finally, Neji extended his hand to his Sensei to help him up. Gai waved him off. "Stop. I'm enjoying this most youthful genjutsu."
It was four days before Guy would accept that he wasn't in a genjutsu trance. When he realized she really was alive, he cried and talked about the "flowers of youth returning to Konoha." He was stranger than he had been when they were younger, but that was to be expected. Jounin class ninjas were known to have marked tendencies towards neuroticism. He was still as excitable and idealistic as she remembered him though, and that's what she had always loved best. He had aged well, too. He still kept the same cute haircut and the same manly eyebrows, as well as the darkly tanned skin, wiry but muscular frame, and perfect white teeth. That green jumpsuit though...wow. That was bad.
Naruto had never been happier. If he could have designed his own life this was exactly how it would have been. He had a mother, and Kakashi-Sensei - now Oji-Kakashi - took more of an interest in him now that they were family. It seemed as if everyone in the village loved his mother, which made life easier for him. They acknowledged him now, and he was seeing much more of Gai-Sensei, which always made life more interesting. He was too dense to realize why Gai was around more, though. Because Gai was around more, Lee was around more – almost enough to seem like he was a brother. That was just fine with Naruto.
Hurricane's new home was just two blocks away from Ichiraku's, which made Naruto happy. It was a very formal, elegant home. When he complained about the formality to Kakashi, he reminded Naruto that she had been the Hokage's wife after all. They were royalty. He would just have to get used to it.
One night Naruto came home to find an extra spot had been set for dinner. He loved having guests. "Who's coming?" he asked excitedly.
"Kakashi thought he'd come over tonight. We haven't had dinner together in 20 years, and apparently he thought it was overdue."
"Kakashi-Sensei's coming here?" This was perfect! If he was eating he'd have to take off his mask and Naruto could finally see what his face looked like. He'd been curious for years to know why the Jounin hid his face. Was it deformed, or ugly, or misshapen?
"Yes, and you should call him Oji-Kakashi now. He's family."
Dinner time came and they sat, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. He was late, as usual. They sat and drank green tea, which Naruto hated, and chatted. Hurricane noticed that even though he was happy, Naruto seemed to have an ill look about him.
"Are you feeling ok? You look rough."
He sat his tea down, glad of an excuse to get rid of it. "Sure, I'm fine. Just some stomach problems." There was no point ruining such a good night because of some stomach pain. He was sure it would go away eventually.
He was relieved when Kakashi arrived and took the spotlight off of him. As dinner was served, Kakashi looked uneasy, and Naruto thought he knew why. He would have to lower his mask soon. He looked at Naruto, said, "well, you are family now," and pulled down the mask.
Naruto gawked like the mannerless man he was until Hurricane nudged him roughly. "Eat your soup and quit staring."
No wonder he hid that face. With the mask on and the spiky hair and blind eye, he looked masculine enough, but without it he looked just like his sister. He was hiding a girly face!
"Well," Kakashi growled, "go ahead and get it out of your system."
"Why the mask then? I thought you must be hideous or have tiny lips or something, but you look fairly normal. Your face isn't that bad." Even Naruto knew better than to tell his deadly uncle he was man-pretty.
Kakashi fiddled with a piece of broccoli. "I attracted too much attention. Subterfuge is a necessity for a ninja, and it's hard to hide in a crowd with fan girls following me around. So I started wearing the mask. Anyway, now you know one of the family secrets. Keep it to yourself."
The family dinners were Naruto's favorite times - even better than Ramen Mondays. Gai Sensei and Lee began coming too, and sometimes Iruka or Anko would be invited. Anko always turned down the invitations, but Hurricane kept trying. She wouldn't give up on her old friend. When Iruka came, Kakashi would always say he wasn't hungry and keep his mask on. Naruto wasn't observant enough to notice, but Hurricane did. It made her laugh. Even after all these years, Iruka probably did still have a school boy crush on her brother.
The only dark spot on Naruto's perfect life were the sharp pains in his stomach, which he didn't tell anyone about. He would go to the hospital if it got bad enough, he decided. It was probably just gas from all the vegetables his mom made him eat now.
Naruto really wasn't very observant, but even he should have realized his mother was in love. The flowers around the house, her constant attention from Gai, how happy she always was – you would think some of this would register with him. But he was completely surprised to open the door one day to find his mother kissing Gai-Sensei in his living room! He dropped the groceries and Gai and his mother stepped apart self-consciously. Gai was embarrassed, but his mother thought the situation was more funny than anything.
"Naruto, close the door. And close your mouth too, or you'll catch flies." Naruto stepped inside, and he and Gai carefully avoided each other's eyes while they picked up the groceries.
"I have to go, but I'll be back as soon as I can," Gai said to Hurricane.
"Naruto, train hard and stay youthful," he said awkwardly.
Gai kissed Hurricane briefly at the door, and they didn't let go of each other's hands so much as let the fingers slide away from each other, as if they wanted to touch until the very last second.
When she closed the door, Naruto asked, "Um, mom? Are you and Gai-Sensei together?"
Wow he's dense, she thought. "No Naruto, I just decided to start randomly kissing Jounins."
He was quiet for a moment or two, and he seemed to be thinking hard. "Do you think you could get him to stop wearing that awful green thing?"
She laughed. "I doubt it highly. Is that all?"
"Um... Yeah. I like Gai-Sensei. Except, you know, he's really loud, and green."
"Yeah, he is, but that's not so bad. We're all a little off in our own ways. For a Jounin he's quite sane, actually."
"You're not crazy."
"I'm not yet. There's something about becoming a very powerful ninja that changes a person's mind eventually. Except for the exercise and meal periods we were allowed, I've basically been asleep for about 20 years, so I haven't had time to get weird yet."
Having Gai-Sensei around wasn't so bad, and Naruto even began to enjoy the extra attention. He wasn't surprised when his mom said they were going to be married. Fortunately, Gai didn't wear the green atrocity to the wedding, but he did wear a green tux. He said green was the color of youth, and should be worn at all weddings. Kakashi was the best man and he insisted on wearing the mask, even though it looked very strange with the tux. After some grumbling, Anko consented to be the maid of honor, although she looked really strange in her jade gown.
They honeymooned for a week, and Naruto had the house all to himself. It seemed terribly empty to him, and he couldn't imagine how he had lived so long by himself. The stomach pains were getting worse, and he knew he'd have to give in and go to the hospital soon. He just didn't want to face Sakura's wrath for waiting so long.
When they came home, he tried to give them some privacy by staying out late to practice. One night, he came home exhausted, and he could barely stay awake long enough to eat. He woke up a few hours later when the pains started. At first they weren't too bad, just like really bad gas. Then they got worse, until he could barely see straight. He didn't panic though, until something began to move under his skin. It felt like a snake was right under his stomach, trying to get out.
He got up and made his way to the door, holding onto the walls for support. His parents were sitting in the informal family room, watching TV, and he stumbled his way toward them. He put his hand on Gai's shoulder. "Otou-san?" he said, just before he collapsed.
Hurricane screamed when she saw her son. His stomach was bleeding, and something was stretching the skin under it. She knelt down to hold him.
"The seal is weakening; Kakashi knows a lot about seals," Gai said. "He'll know what to do." He ran as fast as he could to get Kakashi.
Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's stomach. "I think the seal is breaking. I've never heard of that happening before, but I don't know much about this particular seal."
"What does that mean?" Hurricane asked.
"It means unless we do something fast, Kyuubi's about to break the seal. I don't know of anyone who can seal Kyuubi. The fourth made a deal with the Shinigami to do it."
"How do we do that?" Gai asked. "Tell me!"
Hurricane realized Gai meant to sacrifice himself to save Naruto.
"I have no idea," Kakashi said. "All of the ninjas to make that contract that I know of are dead, so I don't even know who to ask. I can try something I did with Sasuke. I can't make that particular seal, but I might be able to make a reinforcing seal, to hold the fox in for a while."
He directed them to raise Naruto to a sitting position, and drew the seals on him. There was a slim chance this would work; he was really in an experimental area right now. He made the hand movements and performed the jutsu. Naruto quit bleeding, and the movement under the skin calmed down. There was still an occasional slither in his stomach though, and Kakashi knew the technique had only been partially successful.
They rushed the unconscious jinchuurike to the hospital and waited outside his room anxiously. Kakashi's hand dripped blood onto the spotless floor.
"My son's blood," Gai muttered as he watched the drops fall. He looked at Kakashi. "He called me Otou-san. He's never done that before."
Kakashi squeezed Gai's shoulder roughly. "He's a strong kid. He'll get through this." He hoped Gai believed him; he didn't believe it himself, but he had hope.
Jounins began to gather in the waiting room. Word had gotten around quickly, and Gai knew they weren't there because they were worried about Naruto. They were bristling with kunai, weapons, and weapon scrolls. They were worried about the Kyuubi. The atmosphere was incredibly tense, like the anticipation before a battle.
Tsunade stepped out of the room and pulled her surgical mask down. "It's looking bad. I need Jounins in here in case it goes completely pear shaped. She picked out five of the strongest ninjas in the room. Gai and Kakashi were included.
They were greeted by a gruesome sight. Naruto's stomach was bleeding again, and there was a foot high lump rising out of his belly under his skin. It stretched and pulled at the skin; it could only be a short time before even Naruto's unnaturally strong body gave way and the creature escaped. They could hear a high pitched scream coming from inside Naruto's stomach. Kakashi's seal glowed blue over and around the original seal. It was holding the creature in check, but just barely. He had to quickly come to terms with the idea that he might have to kill his nephew if the Hokage ordered him to protect the village. The thought made him nauseous, but he had done worse in his time.
"We need him awake to fight!" Tsunade said, and Shizune administered a stimulant. Naruto awoke, but instead of screaming in pain like a normal person, he fought to control himself. "Use your chakra to control it Naruto," Tsunade said. "You have to help us!"
Gai stepped forward, and took his hand. "Otou-san?" Naruto said, and smiled weakly.
"Hai," Gai said. "Hold on. You are being very youthful Naruto. I am proud of how you are fighting."
The skin split with a wet tearing sound. "No!" Gai yelled and pulled out a kunai.
Naruto screamed at the sight. Instead of Kyuubi, a large wormlike creature with horrible sharp teeth lifted itself out of his gut and bit at the surrounding Jounin, hissing and screaming ferociously. Ibiki managed to impale it with a kunai without harming Naruto, who had passed out again.
Tsunade lifted it cautiously with a scalpel. "I don't know what this is, but it's definitely not the Kyuubi." She looked at the Jounins gathered outside the room. "I think you can go home now."
She pulled pounds of the creature out of him, and sent it to the lab. Naruto almost died from blood loss, but she was able to save him. His stomach and intestines were badly damaged, and would need reconstructive surgery, but he was alive.
Naruto awoke several days later to a very painful, bandaged stomach and his parents on either side of his bed. His mother was holding his hand, and Gai had fallen asleep in a chair. Kakashi was - of course - leaning against the wall reading the latest Icha-Icha book. Naruto remembered the last time he'd been in the hospital. No one had been there when he woke up, sore and lonely. Kakashi had come by when he'd returned from his mission, but it had been one of the loneliest times in his life.
"Congratulations," Kakashi said, his visible eye twinkling mischievously. "You're the only person in history to cause an all-Jounin alert for a tapeworm."
"Tapeworm?" Naruto asked. "No way. That was a monster."
"A monster tapeworm," Kakashi said. "Apparently he fed off your massive amount of chakra. You managed to make a magic tapeworm. It even had its own chakra. It's being dissected and studied right now."
Hurricane ruffled his hair. "Get better fast and we'll go get some ramen."
Naruto held his stomach and groaned. "No ramen. That thing looked just like a huge ramen noodle with teeth. I may never eat ramen again."
The others looked at each other in surprise. "I'd better get a nurse," Kakashi said. "He must be in shock to say that."
Naruto did get well fast, thanks to the Kyuubi's healing powers. And then he went to eat ramen after all. His mother said he couldn't keep the tapeworm in a jar in his room, but Gai helped him sneak it through the window. "It's a very youthful thing to do," he told Naruto, and gave the good-guy pose.
Naruto slept very well that night in his odd house, with his storm-like mother and his green father chatting in the family room, and a magic tapeworm hidden in a jar under his bed. He named the tapeworm Bitey.
