So. The very long-awaited chapter 12. The only reason for being so long is that I got caught up in college, and this fell to the wayside. Anyway, this new chapter comes at just over 3K words (that's double what it was about twelve hours before writing this author's note).
Disclaimer the First: Eight chapters remain. I still very much intend this to end at twenty chapters.
Disclaimer the Second: Bit surprised at the direction that last scene took. Seems a sub-plot has arisen, in response to Inverness's review.
Disclaimer the Third: If you like it, please review. They always make my day (and keeps me reminded that I should be writing the next chapter)!
Chapter 12
Perspective
Being in the hospital was... boring, Naruto decided. He couldn't do anything except lay there, since he couldn't really do much of anything else. Everything was sore, and he couldn't even exist without feeling something somewhere on his body hurt. It didn't help his pride that the medics were describing his symptoms, considering the situation, as being normal for woman after giving birth; their chakra systems had grown accustomed to having the second one there through the presence of the umbilical, and they needed time afterwards to have their Keirakukei readjust to the lack of a dependent chakra source.
"Congratulations!" Inoichi greeted him cheerfully hours after his team had left (If luck would have it, they would never know of the umbilical). "I hear you're now the mother of a surly teenage boy. How is that?"
Naruto didn't have much of an appreciation of the joke (which is to say, he'd encountered dying plants with better senses of humor), and said as much to Inoichi, who only laughed in response.
"So you wanted to talk with me?" Naruto sighed and nodded in confirmation. "What do you need help with? Unwanted voice in your head?"
"I think I like someone, but they don't like me back." As soon as he'd blurted the words out, Inoichi's grin faded away.
"Oh. Uh, I don't- you probably shouldn't- I mean..." Inoichi floundered, and Naruto took his cue to continue before it was made any more awkward than it already was.
"I mean, I think I liked him before, but it was more of an annoying friend-liking than romantic-liking." Naruto paused at the strangled "Him?" that coughed its' way out of Inoichi's throat, and looked at him expectantly. "What I want to know is, what do I do if the... person I think I like, likes someone else?"
"Well," Inoichi coughed out, looking for all the world like he wanted to be anywhere else, doing anything else. "I'm sure that you and the Uchiha boy–"
"No!" Naruto's shriek was uncomfortably high-pitched and squeaky. "No! No no, no, no. No. No." He coughed, trying very hard to crush and repress the mental images that Inoichi had conjured. "Kensuke. It's... Kensuke. I might, kinda, sorta, like him. In that way."
"Ah." And oh, was it apparent how much Inoichi's entire being relaxed at the declaration, even though it had Naruto wound tighter than a drum and no less uncomfortable. "Well, if you like him, then I, uh... You do understand how sex works, right?" At Naruto's fervent nod (and could he just feel how red his face was getting), Inoichi continued. "I don't really see what the problem is."
"Kensuke loves someone else." Naruto had put emphasis on love to ensure Inoichi understood the problem. "And I shouldn't be having problems with that, because what do I care who he does or doesn't love, but I am. And who the heck is Mito?!"
"Ah, well, Mito was one of," Inoichi paused before checking that the door was closed, and nobody was heading this way. "Mito was Kyuubi's first Jinchuuriki. Uzumaki Mito. The Shodai's wife."
"Uzumaki?" That... that was strange. Naruto knew that his name had to come from somewhere, from someone, but he hadn't ever considered the possibility that the family he imagined he'd once had actually existed. "Wait, previous Jinchuuriki? Shodai's wife?"
"In order: you're a distant relation, we've checked; yes, you aren't the first – actually, you're the third; and it wasn't uncommon at the time for Senju and Uzumaki to marry, considering how close the two were." Inoichi rattled off, quick to dispel any hope Naruto had of possibly finding family somewhere in Konoha. "And you say he loves her?"
"He said, and I quote: 'I love you... Mito'." Naruto twitched as the words left his mouth. "But... I mean, the Shodai's wife? That mean's she's dead, right?" Inoichi silently nodded, and the younger blond continued. "So the problem kinda becomes... I like girls! ...I think. I don't–"
"Okay." Inoichi, Naruto realized with a sigh, was finally understanding the problem. "So you like Kensuke, who might or might not like you back, and you're confused about it all." Naruto nodded, his head a flaming red, filled with embarrassment. "The problem you're having is that you thought you understood what your sexuality was, since you previously had an interest in your female teammate, only now you're interested in a boy and you don't know left from right anymore."
"Exactly!"
"Naruto, do you think you're the only boy who like another boy?" Cue confused blink. "Well, you aren't. See, sometimes it happens that a guy likes another guy, or that a girl likes another girl – yes, that happens too – and that's alright. More often it's that a guy likes a girl, and a girl likes a guy, and that's alright too. What matters is that you're happy with who you're with. And know that I'll always be proud of you no matter who you end up with."
"Uh... what?" What's happening here? "Are you... was that the same thing you told Ino?"
"No!" Inoichi yelped, caught off-guard. "I just... it's easier to think of this a a parent-child thing than a doctor-patient thing, and that last bit's obligatory."
"So... you aren't proud of me?" Naruto didn't know why he cared, really, as Ino's dad was a cool enough guy – and he acted kinda like Naruto imagined his own dad would have acted – but that didn't mean that having Inoichi's approval was so important, right?
"Trust me, kid, anyone that's ever spent more than an hour in your presence is proud of you. And is proud to call you a... whatever you are to them." Here Inoichi reached out and patted Naruto's head. "You'll go far, kid. I can tell."
"Well I am going to be Hokage." Naruto was surprised to find that he was almost happy at hearing Inoichi say that about him. Happy and... confused.
"No one's ever given you praise before, have they?" Inoichi said sadly, and Naruto blinked, head cocking to the side.
"Praise? That's... when people say good things about another person?" Naruto could honestly say he'd never had anyone do that towards him. If anyone ever did (which he doubted), he hadn't been around to hear it. After all, he was The (Kyuubi) Brat; who had anything nice or good to say about him?
"Oh." Inoichi seemed to reach the same conclusion Naruto did, and the two sat in silence. "So... how are you healing? I imagine that was a pretty traumatic experience to go through."
"Not really." Naruto sighed and went back to staring at the ceiling he'd familiarized himself with. "But the gravity did get all weird, in here." He jerked his head, and then winced at the action.
"Well, that's normal. The mind and dreamscape are closely tied to reality through the body. Any shift in gravitational forces, such as freefall or sudden change in direction, affects how you perceive gravity within your mind." Inoichi waved it off, before turning serious. "I mean, how are you really feeling?"
It was a loaded question, Naruto knew, but still one he had to answer.
"I feel like... everything's changing, now." At Inoichi's nod, he continued. "I mean, nothing's gonna be the same, since I can't heal as fast as I used to. And Kensuke. He's... I haven't seen him, since it happened, so I don't know, but I'm – I don't know if he's changed. I thought I knew him, but..."
"But now you're not so sure." Inoichi finished for him, and Naruto nodded. "Well, that happens. People grow up, and experience different things, and they change because of that. You aren't the same person you were when you were younger, are you?"
"No."
"Exactly!" Inoichi nodded with a smile. "And I didn't get to be the man I am today if I remained the same as I was when I was your age."
Naruto let out a shaky sight of relief, thanking the older man for his help when a thought occurred to him.
"Hey, d'you think I can visit Kensuke?"
Hospitals, he decided, were tedious. They were tedious and unnecessary and completely irrelevant to his current problems.
Namely, his name.
He wasn't Kyuubi, not without all the implications that came with it; it was rather difficult to convince anyone to respect him without the size or power of all nine of (no longer) his tails. Case in point were the doctors that came into his room, who merely laughed and nodded along, despite how obvious their condescension was. He hated dishonesty with a passion. In his opinion, truth was much more satisfying. It was straightforward and absolute, something that held great power in the world and more value than even the most precious of metals. All beings had an absolute that they held as their truth.
But his truth, his absolute... wasn't, anymore.
I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I am Biju.
That had been truth, had been (he'd mistakenly thought) absolute.
I am human. I am–
"Kensuke?"
"By all the gods." Kyuu-Kensuke groaned into his pillow. It didn't make Naruto leave, however. "Why on earth did you come– is that a chair? With wheels?"
"Wheelchair." Naruto absently corrected as he wheeled into the room, a tall bleached-blonde man trailing behind. "And why wouldn't I come?"
"Because neither of us actually like the other?" Kyuu-Kensuke responded, the picture of innocence.
Naruto stared at Kyuu-Kensuke despairingly. "Yeah. Like that's gonna stop me from being friends with you. Because two weeks trapped in a cabin together haven't made us honorary friends."
"It does not." Kyuu-Kensuke stated resolutely.
"I saved your life!" Kyuu-Kensuke groaned into his pillow – or tried to, due to the straps that kept him bound to laying on his back.
"That means nothing. All the wounds I've healed for you over the years balance the scale." Naruto balked, before he drew an accusing finger at Kyuu-Kensuke.
"I knew it!" Kyuu-Kensuke blinked, looking from the finger to Naruto's face and back.
"...knew what?" His gaze moved to the mystery man that had come in with Naruto. "And who is this?"
Naruto was undeterred. "Inoichi, Kensuke. Kensuke, Inoichi. Now you know each other. More importantly, there's you and the fact that you're the reason I don't sleep off injuries anymore."
"You don't?" Kyuu-Kensuke considered that fact. "Then the current me that resides within you is an even greater imbecile than I had anticipated."
"I have no idea what you just said, but, just... you."
Kyuu-Kensuke smiled, a little. "Me?"
"Yes. No." Naruto shook his head, likely clearing his thoughts. "Who is Mito? To you?"
Kyuu-Kensuke paled. "I don't know what you mean."
Naruto stared, undeterred. "Yeah, you do. You said that name. So who is Mito? What is that person to you?"
"No one. Mito is no one." The lie came easily to Kyuu-Kensuke, although Naruto was unbelieving. It felt odd, lying.
"You're a terrible liar." Naruto leaned forward in his wheelchair, wincing at the motion. "Try again. Who is Mito?"
"She's not important." Kyuu-Kensuke went with a half-truth this time. It was true enough, as Mito had no bearing on their current situation. "What is important is knowing when I can be free of this accursed bonds."
Inoichi opened his mouth to answer when Naruto interrupted. "That's an even worse lie."
"Fine!" Kensuke snapped. "She was a human that I once knew. She forcibly taught me many things about you humans. She died. Is that truth enough for you?"
Naruto hesitated, mulling the answer over, and Kyuu-Kensuke looked over at Inoichi expectantly. Sheepishly, Inoichi answered. "Ah, it will be a couple days until you're released from the restraints, let alone released from the hospital. Lord Sandaime has had to put aside your case for at least the next week. This pertains to you too, Naruto."
"Wait, wait. I'm stuck here too?!" Naruto looked betrayed, and Kyuu-Kensuke tried not to feel too smug about it. "Why?!"
Inoichi avoided Naruto's accusing gaze, and Kyuu-Kensuke's eyes narrowed. "Come now, the brat asked you a question. Given how much he's complained of you asking questions, turnabout certainly is fair play."
Inoichi snorted. "Alright fine. The Chunin Exams are happening, and this year Konoha is hosting. Shinobi from all sorts of foreign lands are coming into the village. As such, the eyes of the world are fixed upon Konoha, and Lord Sandaime."
"The Chunin Exams?" Naruto's face scrunched up, his head tilting in confusion and curiosity.
"The exams that determine whether a Genin – that's academy graduates like you, Naruto – is eligible for promotion to Chunin. Although the exact process is more complex than that, every six months the exams are held in one of the Hidden Villages." Inoichi explained. "At the start of every summer and winter, like clockwork, a different village hosts."
"All of the villages?" Kyuu-Kensuke inquired. "Does that include the other villages with a Kage?"
The question brought twin looks of confusion and curiosity from Naruto and Inoichi both. "Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo are not allied with Konoha, so they do not participate. The current exams were created at the last Gokage Summit, nearly thirty years ago, as an international affair instead of purely internal. It was with the idea of a public showing of a village's burgeoning – that means up-and-coming – Shinobi. A show of force. A village whose Shinobi put on a good show gets increased attention by the rest of the Elemental Nations; that Hidden Village finds it's funds are increased. More missions are coming in. Missions that would otherwise be going to another Hidden Village. The Genin that enter the Chunin Exams represent the power of their Hidden Village. For the duration of the exams, these participants are the face of their respective Hidden Villages."
"So why can't I get out of here already; I wanna participate!" Naruto whined, and Kyuu-Kensuke rolled his eyes.
"Let me guess the answer: the exams are beginning today?"
Inoichi sighed. "They started this morning. By now, the first exam should be over, and the second one starts any minute now. My daughter's team is participating; with luck, her team is part of those starting the second exam."
"So I can't join up?" Naruto frowned, his head shifting to hunch against his shoulders. The funk lasted for all of two seconds before the curiosity returned. "Oh! What about my team? Are they taking the exams? Can they take the exams?"
"I wouldn't know; I wasn't there when the Jonin-Sensei nominated their teams." Inoichi offered Naruto an apologetic look.
Naruto sighed. "Dammit."
Kyuu-Kensuke watched the exchange with amusement. While Naruto would remember Mito and demand the rest of the story, perhaps it was better to continue the half-truth the former Biju had divulged. The history he had with Mito was far too relevant to his current situation than he liked to admit – even to himself.
Shogi tiles clacked against the board in rapid succession. Inoichi gave no quarter in his assault, well aware of who his opponent was. "You're being too reckless with your knight, and your bishop is far more defensive than usual."
"Your point?" Shikaku's bishop moved forward, into the vanguard.
"You're curious." Inoichi moved his rook, sending it after the bishop. "He's calling himself Kensuke."
"His choice?" Shikaku pulled the bishop back on the defensive.
"Naruto's." Inoichi moved his knight. Too much focus on the bishop would blind him to the bigger picture.
"He's acting remarkably human." Shikaku moved his own knight, after eyeing his rook.
"Exhibiting humanoid intelligence, you mean." Inoichi pulled his rook back, moving on the defensive. "I was surprised too. Ibiki reports were understated. He has an extensive memory. I would love to read Lady Mito's personal journals. He has an extensive history with her."
"Former Jinchuuriki. Expected." Shikaku moved to attack Inoichi's rook.
"There was a declaration of love for her." Shikaku paused at this remark, and Inoichi took the advantage, stealing the attacking knight.
"Unexpected." Shikaku went on the offensive with his rook, which stole Inoichi's own knight. "I'll see what I can dig up. Three days for report."
"So, tomorrow night, then?" Inoichi's bishop and rook were soon lost, and he accepted defeat with grace. Shikaku glared despite the win.
"Have I ever told you how much I hate you?"
"Do you want the list chronologically or alphabetized by adjoining adjective?"
Shikaku stared. "...adjoining adjective?"
"We're getting off-topic. Kensuke. Lady Mito's personal journals." Inoichi began to clean-up, sorting the Shogi pieces.
"Yeah, yeah, you'll have it sunrise day after tomorrow." Shikaku returned to glaring, folding up the Shogi board. "But what are the plans for this Kensuke?"
Inoichi sighed. "Letting him move in with Naruto. Or moving them into a two-bed apartment, ideally. The big problem is–"
"The Chunin Exams." Shikaku added his own sigh. "Higher priority than Naruto and Kensuke. Speaking of, we need to reassess."
"Naruto?"
"The Biju." Inoichi turned and looked at his best friend in surprise. "Kensuke cannot be anomalous in this intelligence. If the Biju can be reasoned with..."
"You're thinking too far ahead." Inoichi shook his head. "First we have to prove that all the Biju have similar sentience and intelligence. What, you think another Biju is just going to appear at Konoha's doorstep for our convenience?"
