If anyone told Naruto that his whole being would be itching to remain inside a hospital for more than five hours, he'd most possibly laughed at them, blinked, and gone on laughing. However, the present was a whole different story. Putting his overcame childish attitude aside, his worry for his mother knew no bounds. He had finally filled in his family, he was not letting any member of it vanish and/or leave for whatever reason. Death included. If he had to go to the ends of the world itself to guarantee her mother's health, he would do the travel thrice.

Taking a quick pause from his brooding more becoming of the younger Uchiha-gone-rogue, he scouted his surroundings and the people sharing his worry either for the woman or any of the present.

Right next to him, his Summon sat staring at him solemnly, her eyes filled with worry for his sullen mood. It was a shocking change from her ever cheerful attitude to be smitten down by the current atmosphere. Her back was arched slightly forward, as well as her head was down and turned at him. Both hands were tightly held between her knees, symbol that she was holding back her comments due to her Master's state.

In front of him, leaning against the wall was none other than his sensei. Her eyes shut, her face bowed down. Her pose awakened an intrigue inside him. Just what exactly was she expecting to do here? It's not that he didn't mind the extra support, but it was rare of her to actually show a caring display publicly. Inside the four walls of his home, or previously the Inn, she had (And has) no problems showing how much she cares for him. Chalking it up to be a newfound reaction to a foreign happening, he continued his scan to the last one there.

Arashi.

Everything about him screamed desperation. From the way his already spiky hair was even more disarrayed to how his eyes had lost entirely their light. Even his garments looked pitiful. This was not how the Yondaime Hokage should be; however, a woman had forced him to his state. Holding his head with both of his hands, his elbows touched his knees in the normal pose that indicated exasperation.

The four of them, or at least two actively, were waiting for the Godaime Hokage to come out of the operating room they had camped outside. According to her, Kushina needed immediate medical attention. After shouting several orders at nearby doctors and specially Shizune, they scrambled inside the room with the red-head in the middle of the parade unconscious on her bed.

That had been six hours and forty-two minutes ago.

Now, Naruto was sure that the busty woman was going to come out one of these moments. Sighing in discomfort at the whole mass of occurrences he was involved, he couldn't help it but resist the urge to scream his problems out. First of all, was his mother's current state; then, Akatsuki back on the move after him and his peers; Finally, Konoha's council. No one could face so much and not crumble under the weight of such responsibilities.

Even with the help of his sensei, Ai and Arashi, he doubted he could emerge victorious and still honour his first promise. The one he had made to the person he held most dear during times of need, and who had never failed him, the same one whose promise made Naruto return. That person, held in such high regard was obviously none other than-

"Naruto." Aya's voice distracted him from his train of thought. He looked up at her raising his face slightly. "The light's out." She pointed towards the operation room entrance, were surely enough, the light that indicated surgery was in process was dead. Everyone suddenly sprung into action, except for Aya, who was already on her feet, hopped to theirs.

The door opened and Tsunade came out with a worrying frown over her eyes. She seemed to realize who was present and halted her walk. Addressing each one with a short look, his eyes lingered a questioning second on Ai, before finishing on Arashi.

"We did what we could, but-"

"NO!" Arashi's outburst centred all attention on him for a second. He had thought the worst had happened, and no one could blame him with the way Tsunade delivered the news. Lack of tact, indeed.

"As I was saying, but the rest is up to her. She's stable physically, but we have no clue psychologically how bad her state is. She's been through six months of constant torture and lack of a decent meal, just enough to survive. She has a severe undernourishment case that atrophied her muscles. Unfortunately, she will never be a kunoichi again without some sort of Kami-level miracle." Taking a deep breath, she calmed down. The bad news had been delivered.

"Now, we're injecting her nutritious soup of sorts to augment her body's healing capabilities, as well as placed a seal on her back, courtesy of Jiraiya, to further increase them without any sort of mutation. In short, she heals twice as fast as a human without drawbacks. With a lot of luck, she'll be physically back to normal conditions in two to three months." Giving a shout, a doctor scrammed to the group. "Get me Yamanaka Ino ASAP." She ordered.

"Obaa-chan, she has broken ribs." Naruto reminded her.

"Right. Then, get me her father." Seeing the man falter, she seethed. "NOW!" Even Aya herself considered for a second running away from the irate Hokage.

"Can we see her?" Arashi finally voiced his thoughts. The tone he used would have melted any woman due to the concern he held for his wife. The buxom blond was no exception as she gave him a sympathetic curt smile.

"In a few minutes. They're moving her to a room where she'll stay for a good while. If you excuse me, I've got paperwork to do..." She casually and slowly began walking off, no worry invading her mind to quicken her pace. "Oh, she's unconscious for now. She'll stay like that for a few weeks to not strain her mind as it recovers." She finalized the report about Kushina's status and disappeared in the hospital's hallways, the group behind her falling silent.

Opening the door slightly, Arashi looked around the room only to find it deserted. There was one occupant and it was in bed, blissfully unconscious. Making an "all clear" sign to Naruto, the two blonds entered and Naruto closed the door behind him. Thankfully enough, there were a pair of chairs at both sides of the bed. Each took one of them and concentrated their attention on the third person.

For the first time ever, Naruto took a good look at his mother. The way her red hair flowed impassively and shone with the aid of the sunlight from the window made a smile crept up to his lips. Her beautiful face made him feel that everything was alright now and he would be safe. He wondered if every son felt like that when they were with their mothers, if it was true, then this was his version of heaven.

Looking at his father, he was surprised to find he was staring at him, gauging his reaction. When Naruto smiled, he felt like a huge load had been lifted from his shoulders and he would be happy again, this time with his rightful family. This time, he would do anything it would take to keep the three of them together and safe. Although, he wondered if Naruto would make a better job at it, after all, he had been skipping his training for a good eighteen years. It would take at least one to put him back in his former shape. He sighed, at least he could speed things up like his son did now. Kage Bunshin was a blessing.

"Dad, can you help me train?" Naruto's inquiry shocked him out of his reverie. He took a good look at his son but he was looking at the blissful smile his wife had.

"Why do you need my help? I said I would help you with the Hiraishin."

"It isn't enough. I want to be stronger. Strong enough to protect everyone, but more importantly, to protect both of you." The way his eyes shone at him when he said those words made him remember of someone. Himself. He smiled truly and nodded assuringly.

"Of course, Naruto. But you will have to fight me everyday until I get to my former level. Each day, it will be more and more difficult. Are you up to it?" Arashi grinned confidently. This would be something of a gift for Naruto.

Me? Fight with THE Yondaime Hokage? Grinning in content, the younger blond nodded several times, his former-childish attitude resurfacing for a moment. "I´d love to."

The air of eagerness that composed the atmosphere of the room suddenly warped into nothingness when another yellow-haired male appeared in the scene by opening the door.

"What is this I hear about Kushina being alive?" He demanded frowning at the coated man. Instead of giving a reply, he smiled proudly of his success and pointed at the beautiful red-head currently in the world of Nod.

Now, Yamanaka Inoichi was a seasoned shinobi and sure knew how to keep his emotions inside himself most of the time. But to have the supposedly dead wife of the formerly-dead-Yondaime was something that escaped his skills effortlessly.

"It's… true…" He let out weakly when his gaze was fixed on the female Uzumaki, the effort he placed to keep his jaw from hitting the floor was just as impressive as the fact itself.

"I take it Tsunade told you about what you have to do here?" Arashi half-asked, half-reminded him not to deviate from the priority one task. The other sun-kissed man simply waved a hand at him in dismissal.

"Yes, I've been informed." He said and sat down next to the other eldest male. "Whatever happens-"

"Yes, yes. We shake you." Naruto finished urging him to begin already.

Inoichi stared at him. "How do you… Oh." He silenced himself, recalling the conversation he had with his daughter about returning Arashi's memories and how Naruto had acted during it. He smiled at this before posing the familiar hand-seal. It was good to have someone outside from the clan to know what to do in case things went wrong.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" He called, his eyes glazing over and finally shutting close. Instead of how her daughter slumped forward, he went backwards and it almost appeared that he had nodded off due to tiredness.

"Do you think he'll be able to fix mom?" Naruto inquired worriedly.

"We can only hope." Arashi's concerned reply eased nothing their spirits.

Inoichi's first recall of things was that he was in a horizontal position, most likely laying on the ground. The second was the coppery and suffocating smell of burnt wood and paper. According to the proportion of smoke against fresh air that his nose was calculating, the fire had been going for a long while and ended not long ago. However, time was irrelevant inside a mind. Masters of their own mind could spend years vagabonding inside their own for only seconds to pass in the real world.

Those were the founders of the Yamanaka clan and who Inoichi looked up to. Not only for their skills, but for their honourable views of the world. Almost infinite time of reflection upon things gave you insights no one cared to know about since it contrasted the view of the masses. Regarding his own skill, he trained himself to reach the point of a year, but he could only accomplish several months. From what he had seen, her daughter was more apt for surpassing him in the near future. Specially with that change her mind undergone.

Rising to his feet, he looked around and absorbed the surroundings. He was in the middle of a village almost burned to the ground, only a few things remained up and those were walls left by the fire half-devoured. From many places, he could still see the red remnants of a fire trying to spark up among the good amount of fuel, however, something prevented them from doing so and also vanished them slowly.

That was a good sign. It meant that her mind was already trying to return to normal functions by its own. That way, his work would be cut by a considerable amount. There was a certain element he needed to locate in order to speed things even further. And to make matters worse, it was in the core of her mind, the nigh impenetrable fortress everyone had.

He hoped that in her current state, finding it and infiltrating it would be a piece of cake. As many things, this bridge would have to be crossed when he got to it. So, trudging around, he decided to look for a building with a lot of significance, obviously distinct from others in appearance.

Resuming his previous train of thought in a secondary task, he couldn't help it but be reminded of how worried he had been when her daughter didn't come back from her personal training session for two whole days. That was nothing compared to what he had felt when he found her in her training spot laying on the floor with her eyes closed.

She had been unconscious for three days, during which he and her wife were almost walking on the walls. The relief they felt when she had gotten down from her bedroom with her usual sleepy face asking what was for breakfast knew no bounds nor held comparison from any before.

After that, she had resumed her sessions for a week under his gaze. Sometimes she asked strange questions regarding to what he was thinking a while ago, which was strange even to another Yamanaka. Normally, reading other's thoughts expressly required the usage of a Jutsu.

She had used none on him. Yes, she had abused a poor rabbit's mind trying to increase the speed of the Shintenshin or a different effect with the Shinrashin, but she had never directed her jutsu at him. That was the main worry he had against his daughter training by herself.

But things would only escalate further from there. Several times she had asked him to help her in her taijutsu, to which he happily agreed. The question in itself was common, the occurrences that happened in said engagements, though, were not. It wasn't that she was some kind of taijutsu goddess, but rather that sometimes he knew she wouldn't be able to predict a move, she surprised him by twisting in a way to avoid said blow.

When he had confronted Ino about it, she shrugged saying she somehow knew what he would do. The final thing that sealed the fact that her prowess with the clan's jutsu far outclassed his own was when she presented to him her unique variation of the Shintenshin. Said technique quickly earned her the title of best scout of Konoha, a feat previously impossible for a Yamanaka to achieve.

Pushing those ponderings about her daughter's rising abilities, he refocused in the current task just in time to find what he was looking for. Remnants of a tower painted in blue, according to the five-foot long piece of wall from the ground floor. From the weak-posing threshold he was standing in front of, a chunk of what looked like a swirl was on it.

"Kushina, whatever you faced must have been tough for someone like you to be snapped like this." He mused out loud. Entering the falling apart building, he looked around but found only smoky furniture. His resolve didn't falter, though. Instead, he used a different fuel to act. What Arashi and Naruto would do to him, should he fail this assignment.

Shuddering at the thought, he continued with renewed vigour.

It didn't take long for him to discover a rubble-covered trapdoor leading to the underground. Going through it, the background changed completely to a regal one. The walls no longer were burnt but were of polished white marble; the steps of the ladder he was coursing held the same colour but added with a blue shiny and clean rug; And finally, torches burned merrily at his sides.

When he reached the end of said stairs, he was in a room more fitting in a rich castle rather than the shady destroyed village he had been trudging about. Pillars of the same white marble rose at the sides of the rug that continued all the way to an altar of sorts, where four torches. They looked like four small statues of women with their backs joined and their arms high holding a big curvy stone plate, where a vivacious fire was sparkling. In the middle of it all, a desk was sitting proudly with a comfy chair behind it.

Placing his gaze on it, he found a disarray of papers on it. Grabbing one, he frowned. This was a completely inefficient structure for the mind to work. Several connections were amazingly misconnected to the point that it would take three times the time a normal one required for a process.

Sighing in view of what he had to do, he sat down and rummaged through the desk, finding clear scrolls in one. Titling it the same as the connections, he took the basics from it and developed an arrangement of his own.

Of course, then he had to recheck every single connection with the other papers in order for them to work as they should and perhaps make a few improvements. Who knew how this woman had been wired before…

Five long hours of extenuating work later, he leaned back on the chair and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Heaving a content sigh, he admired his handiwork. Whereas the whole thing was a mass of several sheets of paper, now it was three neat scrolls placed parallel to each other in the middle of the desk. With one last check at all of them and confirming that he had done all he could,

Exiting the core of Uzumaki Kushina's mind, he landed himself one last menial task, look for progress. He didn't dare to cancel the jutsu from the core, since there was a good percentage that things could be screwed up royally when a source of chakra intertwined with the mind at that level. If it had been a high level genjutsu used against an enemy, not much worry would come from that. Since this was an ally, not to mention one of the most popular females in her time, there had to been zero to nil risks. Threats of his own castration thanks to Tsunade, Naruto or Arashi had a large amount of leverage as well.

The best way to leave a mind was from where you entered it, since there was the least resistance to movement to and from. Also, he could gauge how much recovery her mind had undergone in this few hours and thanks to his designs. Two birds with one stone.

As his feet carried him to the location he had woken up, his gaze travelled all around the ruins of the village. Noticing that the proportion of smoke was already lesser, his eyes also noted that the sparks of fire were completely gone and only charred wood remained. This meant good news. It wasn't until he reached his destination that he saw something different. A whole wall of a house was complete and painted a dull red colour. A solid proof of her progress.

Glancing his surroundings one last time, he cancelled the jutsu and returned to his body, content with what he had done.

Yamanaka Ino was bored. After Naruto had left in a rush, she had heard word nor seen hair of him in almost a day. Something told her an occurrence of enormous proportions had just passed unnoticed by her and that was thanks to her injuries.

Not for the first time she cursed her lack of skill.

Instead, she received a visit from Sakura, but she didn't have any news regarding what transpired recently. Brainstorming was a must among these meetings were they had close to none information. Sakura left, though, with a promise of finding out to tell her and rechecking her healing progress. According to what she had said, it was only one more day and she would be out of that accursed place.

The catch was that she wouldn't be able to train for another five days. That left her a civilian for the moment. Of course, nobody said about theory training. And that was the base for new jutsu, as well as understanding of the ones already under her belt.

Just as she was about to enter her own mind, a feat of incredible easiness for a Yamanaka like her, the door creaked open and in came the person she desperately wanted to talk with. Aya.

"Ah, you're awake." She pointed out in order to break the ice quickly. Planting feet at the end of Ino's bed, she crossed her arms over her belly. This action was currently gaining more and more of her liking, since it made her look imposing to some and honest to others. "How have you been, little Yamanaka?" She joked rather lamely. She succeeded in struggling a smile on the bed-fixated girl.

"Bored. It's still one more day before I get to leave this place and a whole week entirely before I get back to training." She grumbled pouting childishly at the afternoon sun of Konoha coming through the main window.

"Speaking of which, Naruto told me that you wanted to train under my care." She recalled having that same conversation with his student not an hour ago, while he tried to take his mind from worrying about his mother.

"He said he would. When can we begin?" She asked eagerly, filing away for the moment her question as to what happened to her fellow fair-haired comrade-in-arms.

"Let's see… We've got a three week disappearance… So right after we return, we can begin." Aya finished, pondering about the itinerary Naruto pointed out the Meeting would be. Of course, while they waited for everyone to be there and when the more pressing matters were considered, training was a must. She just hoped that Arashi would be there with training more becoming of a ninja than her training to become what she proudly was: an A-

"Three weeks?" Ino interrupted outraged. That was a long time!

"Yes, Ino. Thank Naruto for that one. And we cannot avoid this one. The importance of this meeting will most surely decide the fate of the shinobi villages." Her solemn frown, added to the hardness of her eyes spoke of nothing but the truth. It was as she had felt a while ago. A bad omen of things to come. Her main worry was that a Fourth shinobi war would break out and that would be disastrous for everyone.

"I take it it's because of his furry friend?" She called raising a brow. No wonder a meeting with Naruto of such importance would be related to the fox. It was as obvious as the sun came from the east.

"You assume right. Try not to talk with other people who don't know about this. Their reaction may not be nice towards you for being friendly with him. At least that was his warning when we talked before coming here." Passing on Naruto's word of wisdom about keeping a low profile, Ino nodded in acceptance of said phrase. After all, he had years of knowledge of how to avoid the treatment he received during his childhood.

"About the training…" Aya had to give the girl some credit. She learned fast. Had it been anyone else, they would still be pestering her about said amalgamation and the details of it.

"For now, I can only ask you a few questions. We'll see how much potential you have when we return. Don't expect to be a prodigy of sorts. Naruto was a special case, since he learned everything I gave him like a sponge. From what I've heard from his former sensei, he had always been the same." Aya added grinning at how her student made her job all the more easier thanks to that same fire for learning.

"Shoot then." She said and motioned for the chair next to her. Aya dismissed it, preferring to stand where she was.

"Have you got any experience with a bow or a spear? Or summoning in a worst case scenario." She began, clutching her elbows tighter. In Naruto's case, he had such a faculty with summons that Ai came to this world far faster than she had with her own Summon.

"Nope. I've only seen you two fight and about summons… Little to nothing. Heard of the process, though, if that counts for something." Ino defended.

"Not for much." Aya replied looking down in a pensive pose, deflating what little pride Ino had recovered with her phrase. "Any elemental manipulation?" She inquired again, looking at the younger blonde directly to her eyes.

"I think I've got water." She replied weakly.

"Secondary?"

"What?"

"Oh, geez." She almost cursed out loud. Did they never teach this girl anything useful? It was a wonder she had survived for this long in this career. "Don't you know that everyone has a secondary manipulation?"

"Really?"

"Yes. I've never cared for trying to find out mine. Naruto's wind with water. Arashi's lightning with earth I think. And so on. Normally an experienced shinobi can tell their own secondary alignment simply by examining their own energy." She explained frowning in displease. If the prospect of having to push her every step of her training wasn't enough, she would have to teach her everything from ground zero. While it was an interesting project to create a much better fighter, the key here was promise, and lately, she had close to none. Only after their return would they be able to accurately know.

"I see…" Ino replied ashamed of her lack of studying in the arts of ninjutsu or weaponry. Perhaps her own skill wouldn't be so lacking.

"I'll go ask that idiot Cyclops to come here and gave a look at your energy with one of those papers for the elemental alignment. I trust he'll be able to teach you how to do it in the three weeks we'll be out. If you don't succeed, don't seek me out for training. It'll be a waste of time." With that, she left in a hurricane, pissed at her own student to point out an amateur for training. If they were on the move, this was not the time to introduce someone to their style of fighting. This was a time were strengths had to be bolstered or people died painfully.

With that in mind, she patted the three scrolls with containment seals in them. Soon, Naruto would have to be fitted for a long battle. Perhaps her own treasures from The War might work on him. Scratch that. They would work on him. If she survived with those, he could go to The Gates several times and return unscathed.

And in the off chance that this took a long while and Ino showed some promise, she might be able to follow. If not, the Kumo Jinchuuriki would be a very good addition to their dying style. After all, not many archers as them were regarded as trusty. She blamed it on her ancestors and the imagination some people had when creating stories about her own lineage.

If only her teacher had been here… She would show both her and Naruto how to truly fight. But it was impossible. She had ascended and there was more chance of hell freezing over than her coming back to this dimension to do something as vague as teaching.

Frowning and looking to a side, she felt that there was something he was forgetting to tell the Yamanaka heiress. Oh, well. It would come back to her later.

"So, how's her status?" Arashi urged him to speak up, even if the glaring lights were blinding him. Yamanaka Inoichi blinked several times until his sight adjusted and addressed the former Hokage.

"She's… Wow, that's a pretty violet ball…" He halted and rubbed his eyes. Shaking his head, he resumed. "She's recovering well. Her mindscape took a severe beating, but it's going along nicely. Give or take a few weeks and it will be as good as new. I don't know if she'll act the same as the Kushina you knew, since the factor for that are her memories and not her state of mind." He cut it down for non-initiates to understand. If he went with technical terms, their comprehension would be none.

"Anything else?" Naruto added.

"Not that I know. It was a wasteland in there. I'm surprised she's making progress at all! If her core had been damaged, she'd be left as a vegetable. Strangely enough, it was the most guarded and well-kept place of all." He finished and got up.

"Thanks for your help." Arashi copied his actions and smiled before extending his hand.

"As long as you don't leave me an eunuch, I'll be happy to help." He joked and shook hands. "I'm off to see my hime, she'll be nagging me left and right as to what happened…" He left with that thought in the air.

"Oops. I knew I was forgetting something." Naruto admitted rubbing the back of his neck.

"What do you mean?" Arashi questioned calmly sitting down again.

"I meant to tell Ino-chan about what transpired… I simply forgot… Hope she doesn't kill me." His sheepish grin only added to his regretful visage.

"I'm sure she won't kill her saviour." The blond man shrugged it off. "How about I treat you for some ramen? Kushina loved to eat as much as she could." He paused and looked to the ceiling with a finger under his chin in a thinking manner. "Perhaps that's where you get your craving for it?" He joked with a content grin.

"And damn proud of it!" Naruto shot back puffing his chest, which elicited a laugh from his father. "Good to know I have some sort of connection with her." He said getting to his feet slowly while admiring his mother's quiet face.

"Of course. Who do you think you got your handsome looks from?" Arashi grinned foxily and had to dodge a pillow from his also grinning son. "Hey! I resent that!"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go wipe your wallet." Naruto said pushing his father out of the door.

"Exactly! It's my wallet! Why should I hurry?" To this, they left the recovering woman in bed. A soft breeze came from the window, moving ever so slightly her ruby locks.

Unknown to everyone except the silent wind, her lips quirked up unnoticeably for a good minute before returning to their neutral state.

All right, boys and girls. There you have it. Chapter 14 and the pass mark of the sixty thousand words. Kushina's current health status as well as some small background on both Ino's new technique and Aya's past. To those who are smart and fast enough to guess what she is, by all means, try to do so. I'll give a cookie to the one who does so.

On to other things, to some, this chapter might seem as a filler, but the information in it squashes that possibility. Another thing I'm currently toying in my mind is whether to stick Naruto with Ino or Yugito. Both have possbilities, but the Naru/Ino romance may take a GOOD while to develop, since the Jinchuuriki Meeting still has to happen and other things that I've planned before the training begins. And that's the main pillar for the lovey dovey stuff. Yugito, on the other side, is far easier to write since Naruto and her are Jinchuuriki (Making romantical connections far easier due to understanding).

Lastly, some facts about this story. As of right now, 26 May, 2008 at 4:00 Greenwich Time, this story has:

62896 Words - 14 Chapters - 144 Reviews - 71161 Hits - 45 C2s - 145 Favs - 283 Alerts.

Not to be a bit of a review whore, but I'd REALLY like some more people giving their opinion. Also, I'll be rechecking every single chapter back and re-uploading them. In case you want to revive the whole thing with errors (Some so stupid I can't believe I made them) wait until the next weekend. I'm sure I'll have it all done by then. Next chapter won't come out 'til it comes out.
Later,
Soulcry.